


Red Like Roses

by chuplayswithfire, Koamaterasuhime



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Silver Millennium, Canon-Typical Violence, Costume Parties & Masquerades, F/M, Gen, Roleswap, Romance, Silver Millennium Era, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 40,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27768310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chuplayswithfire/pseuds/chuplayswithfire, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koamaterasuhime/pseuds/Koamaterasuhime
Summary: A tragedy in seven acts.General Makoto of Earth accompanies Princess Serenity on her first formal visit to her soon-to-be betrothed, Prince Endymion of the Moon, and encounters his closest guardian - Sailor Mars, better known as Kunzite. It is the first of many encounters.SilMil!Reverse!AU. MakoKun, EndySere
Relationships: Kino Makoto/Kunzite, Prince Endymion/Princess Serenity
Comments: 9
Kudos: 7
Collections: Senshi & Shitennou Mini Bang 2020





	1. Act 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Senshi & Shitennou Mini Bang 2020, with art by the lovely Koamaterasuhime and beta'd by Heavenly_Pearl.
> 
> Somehow, 2020 gave me enough inspiration for two ideas for the bang this time around! Inspired by the ideas of mixing up the classic couples a little bit, I had this idea for how things would be if Endymion and the Earth Court gang were the ones on the Moon, and Serenity and her Senshi had been the ones on the Earth. I didn't go with the idea of different names for everyone because honestly it made me feel disconnected from my own writing so! That's just how it is.
> 
> The Senshi are: Kunzite (Mars), Nephrite (Jupiter), Zoisite (Mercury), Jadeite (Venus)  
> And the girls are the Shitennou, without you know, titles because it's unnecessary.

The planet Earth was beautiful, from the smallest grain of sand to the tallest mountain, the stormiest sea to the calmest puddle. The glory of life bursting forth from every crevice and crack of the planet was grander than any sight the gods could offer. To lay upon the grass and feel the splendor of the sun, to inhale the scent of bread baked in clay gathered from the fertile banks of a rushing river, was the greatest measure of peace a soul could find.

Makoto, better known to the people of Earth as Princess Serenity's sworn guardian and High General to the forces of the Golden Kingdom, had staked her life on that belief, in the quest to finally unify the people of Earth under a single flag, a single belief. She had known it in the depths of her heart, as only one touched by the golden heart of the planet itself could know. 

For all her misgivings over Princess Serenity's taste in suitors, she was gladdened that, if nothing else, this venture confirmed for her that she was _right_. Standing under the domed skies of the moon, the view of Earth - with its white clouds spilled like paint over the brilliant blue expanse of the sea, the vivid green of growing life, the warm bounty of brown earth - she could not regret her insistence that she be the one to join Minako in ferrying Serenity to the foreign surface of the Moon.

"I told you there would be sights worth seeing here," a warm voice chirped beside her, and Makoto turned her head to gaze down at her charge, eyes flicking down to her feet and sweeping upwards in a visual assessment as reflexive as breathing. 

Golden boots rose to the knee, swallowing within them sturdy white trousers. Gold colored faulds protected her waist and hips, the layered plates curving to guard her outer thighs without impairing movement. Those - and the armored breastplate, white save for the pattern of golden ovals and lines circling her bust - had been Makoto's suggestion, a much needed layer of defense for a princess who refused to wait in safety while her guardians and soldiers took to the battlefield for her cause. A cape of white, with a gold underside, hung from her shoulders, limp in the windless atmosphere of the Moon. Her hair, gathered into two tails spilling from buns atop her head, fell nearly as far as her cape's edge, as brilliant a gold as that in her armor. 

Serenity's round face was brightened by a smile, her blue eyes amused. She knew why it was that her guardian examined her, and she did not protest, for all that the tilt of her brows said she found the caution unnecessary. Serenity's hands, small but calloused from years of wielding a staff, tugged at Makoto's equally calloused hands. Neither of them wore a weapon today.

"Come on," she urged, "before Minako takes your stillness as a sign of some devious plot and calls off the whole thing. I've yet to even lay my eyes on Endymion!"

"Hm, a devious plot you say?" Makoto bit her lip to hide the faint smile that threatened to appear. "It's sounding like a great plan. I should have thought of it myself -"

" _Makoto_!" Serenity wailed, her voice rising to a high pitch, her royal dignity abandoned. 

The smile tugging at pinched lips faded. Makoto frowned down at her charge, amusement briefly banished. Her princess's voice carried. 

“Calm down. We're not at home - who knows what ears lie waiting in this place? I'll take you to your prince, but Serenity - don't forget yourself. Your heart isn't the only precious thing at stake."

She glanced meaningfully at their surroundings to emphasize her point. The field they stood was actually under glass, square pieces tinted blue by the sky framed by gold barring. An enormous house of glass, and the stone and tile-lined waterway, the manicured grasses giving way to scalloped pillars, the high walls formed from ornamental plant life - all of it was an illusion was privacy.

The prince and his guardians waited somewhere in that maze of sculpted life, and beyond them the people of the Moon. This was not to be Serenity's first private - _'private'_ \- meeting with Prince Endymion, but it was the first to take place on the Moon, and that meant the dangers and threats to her princess were so much greater. There were too many unknowns here for Makoto to be comfortable with even such casual information as her own true name. This was no place to let slip their guard and to unveil themselves. 

And to her credit, Serenity did not argue - not verbally, at least, for her eyes (as blue as any clear sky) sparked with disagreement. Her pout fell away, round face taking on a serious cast.

"I _know_. I really do. The success of this betrothal - and the alliance we could craft with it - could usher in a new era for both of our worlds. The things we could do, with access to Mercurian medicines alone, would change the shape of our society for the better. That it makes me happy - that this means I can have a love match, rather than a solely political one - is a bonus."

And Makoto could only smile, and nod, and so that was what she did. 

Serenity understood her role in this. Of course she did - Serenity had fought for her role in this, as they all had. Serenity had fought to be more than a healer, more than a figurehead, more than a princess, and that she had fallen in love had not changed that. Makoto knew that, had known that, would always know that. It was why she stood against Rei when the seer threatened to set loose her sight and reveal which way the future would turn, why she had struggled in a one-sided battle of wits against Minako to allow this very visit to occur. Makoto trusted her. 

But it was so much easier to trust her princess on Earth, on their own soil, in their own place of power. It was so much harder to be bold, to be without reservation, in the cold heart of the Lunar Empire. 

Even if it was not as cold as she had expected. 

Tales were spun of the Moon's beauty, of the place it held in the sky, of the people who inhabited it - long lived folk who may as well have been gods for all the power they wielded, from the mighty queen to her meekest servant. From Earth, the surfaces under these domes could not be seen. From Earth, the gardens she now walked were unknown. The Moon was not a frigid wasteland, a pristine and distant beauty; it was a strange place, yes, but one that lived. Every flower, every blade of grass, every tree and shrub and piece of foliage was alive and well, and even she, with all her power, could not sense a difference between these plants and those growing across Earth. 

"You're right. This is our future, and yours. Let's go ahead, and meet your prince. I want to see if he lives up to all the stories you've told."

🌏🌹🌕

When Makoto estimated that they were about halfway through the garden, a familiar figure appeared, stepping over stones and between carefully manicured flora as if she had ventured these paths all her life, rather than having spent a mere ten minutes scouting ahead. Unlike Makoto, who wore the uniform of their office, tailored to suit her towering frame, Minako wore a high-waisted, sleeveless dress, a bright, warm yellow that quite effectively drew attention to her. The long skirt was given life and movement by a gauzy overskirt and yellow ribbons that dangled from the shoulders, from the thin band of cloth about her neck, and of course from the ribbon holding back her hair. She looked innocent, delicate, the sort of playmate a young princess might feel close to. 

Makoto wondered at how many knives she had hidden in the folds of that dress and if there was a razor wire hidden amidst her long, golden hair. She would not ask. Working alongside Minako, fighting beside her, had long taught her that it was best she not know.

Makoto was a general and faced her enemies head on, under the light of the sun in the field of open battle. Minako was a knife to the back, thrown in the pitch of night under the shadow of the moon. Her enemies should never know she existed.

"These gardens really are a maze," Minako complained, her pouting frown as false as the humble facade of her clothes. She walked but a few steps from Serenity’s side, two paces behind and to her left. "My lady, I have spent all this time in here and caught only the barest glimpse of your prince. All these shrubs and bushes and thorns, they may be manicured, but this path is an absolute _nightmare_."

What she meant was: 

The prince awaited them deep within the maze. These gardens would be no simple matter to navigate should they need to flee, and forcing their way through would be slow if they did not wish to wield the full might of their power. 

Scouting had been a wise choice, because for all her spoken complaints, Minako guided them easily. Her mind was as swift as the flash of steel in battle, the crack of a whip, the snapping flow of chains, and it was rare for her to forget even matters of little importance. Those who believed the ore-laden mountains that were her seat of power were a hint at hampered agility in favor of indomitable power were mistaken. The mountains of the earth may not have moved, but their molten hearts and the metals at their core did.

In the peace of the garden, Minako’s whining voice carried - those who awaited them would surely hear her, and Makoto could well imagine the expressions that would cross their faces. No one would imagine this plainly dressed, complaining girl a threat.

It was common enough on Earth for Minako to be overlooked that Makoto knew she wouldn't be able to rightfully judge her Lunarian counterparts if they did the same, but a part of her - admittedly the part that had seen Minako with weapons in her hands, bleeding and killing and manipulating opinions for their princess - was indignant at the thought. Her princess deserved someone whose security was at least half as competent as her own team, and they had _never_ mistaken Minako for innocent. 

Serenity only laughed, a warm smile blossoming on her face. She knew them each to their core - had filled their hearts with her love, her warmth, her joy in being herself and her joy in seeing them be _themselves_ , and she, more than anyone, took great pleasure in seeing Minako in her element, playing any one of her dozen roles superbly. 

"Don't you mean it's an adventure?" she teased and urged Minako closer by tapping a hand to her waist. 

“No.” Minako pouted, eyes still bright with mischief. “An adventure is at least _fun_. But come, my princess, for all that these gardens are an endless maze, you’ve been taking such a very long time - “

“You mean, we've been making our way at a normal, sedate pace?” Makoto interjects, wry. 

“Well - yes, exactly that, General Makoto. Not that this one would ever dare criticize your approach, but the Lunar prince and his _handsome_ _gardener_ are waiting for us just ahead.” Minako batted her eyes, false humility lacing her tone. She was playing at being a harmless companion, a friend to accompany the princess on this, her first trip away from her planet, and having a terribly good time doing it. "Surely we shouldn't be so rude as to keep him waiting?"

"I'm sure Endymion and his gardener wouldn't dream of being upset that we admired his gardens. He loves flowers, you see, especially the ones here on the Moon - they’ve been such a struggle for him.” Serenity sighed, her blue eyes glazed with wistful adoration, and Makoto glanced over her head to catch Minako's gaze. They shook their heads as one. 

Makoto thought she might understand the appeal of love - the inherent romanticism of finding someone who could match you, who could warm your heart and lift your spirits, who would promise to be at your side for eternity - but she had love. _Serenity_ had brought that into her life, and she wasn't sighing lovingly over every interest and hobby her princess picked up. 

This was something she didn’t think she would ever understand, and by the bemused look in Minako’s eyes, the tilt of her head as she looked from princess to general, she felt the same. 

At least there was reason still, between the two of them. Cautions seem to have flown right over Serenity’s head. 

“I didn’t think you cared for flowers,” Makoto said, voice deliberately bland. She lengthened her stride, and Serenity hurried to keep pace, shaking her head as if thoughts of the lunar prince had clouded her mind. 

In truth, it was a touch worrying, that the thought of any man could distract her princess so, but maybe it was a good thing. Their planet has only recently settled, and years of war had carved steel-like harshness into a face that had once been as soft and yielding as clay. If Endymion could restore some of that softness, if Endymion was truly as in love with the princess as she was with him, then Makoto would have no objection to their union. 

If. 

“I don’t,” Serenity admitted cheerfully, and when Makoto chanced a glance back, her cheeks were as pink as the petals of a crocus, her eyes shining. Her hands swung at her sides, and the tails of her hair bounced. “But Endymion does. He talks about them all the time, the work he does in the gardens with his friend. The last time he came to visit, we collected cuttings for him to try and transplant.”

“You had a secret date with the lunar prince and all you did was go get bits of flowers?” Minako asked.

At the same time, Makoto asked, “Whose flowers were you getting cuttings from?”

And Princess Serenity looked between her two guardians and decided discretion was the better part of valor. She ran ahead, the click of her booted heels quieted by the grass, giggling voice trailing after her. 

Makoto sighed. Minako rolled her eyes.

“What are we going to do with her?” Makoto asked, shaking her head. She followed after Serenity, lengthening her stride from a walk to a swift jog. 

“Try not to let her get her heart broken?” Minako suggested, and with a grim sigh, did the same. It was more of an effort for her to keep up than it was for Makoto. She was the same height as Serenity, while Makoto was a head taller than both of them, with a longer stride. 

Even at her fastest, Serenity couldn’t out pace her, and to her princess’ credit, she wasn’t really trying. She grinned sheepishly when her general appeared at her side, but she didn’t stop running, and she didn’t stop giggling either... 

Not until they heard another voice, masculine and fretful, coming from somewhere ahead of them. 

“What if she got lost? There are all sorts of plants here that you can’t find on Earth. Something could have distracted her, lead them from the path, and she could be lost somewhere in the maze and even Jadeite still gets lost in the maze sometimes - “

“Venus doesn’t pay attention to his surroundings,” another voice said, deeper than the first and with a tone hinting at long-suffering patience. 

Makoto slowed to a walk. At her side, Serenity did the same, her steps lighter, quieter, her fingers going to her hair, frantically combing through the long strands of her tailed hairstyle, nibbling at her lips with deliberate little motions. At her side, Minako plucked at the white blouse visible under her armored breastplate, carefully hiding any evidence of wrinkling. 

“You look fine,” Makoto said, running a critical eye over her princess. “Perfectly dressed for a stroll in the garden. Don’t be nervous, he’s just a man,”

“I’m not nervous, and he’s not _just_ a man, he’s Endymion,” Serenity protested. Her lips were pink from nibbling, ever so slightly swollen. 

“If you’re not nervous, then why are you biting at your lips?”

“Because she wants them to look kissable, of course,” Minako said, her voice a promise of endless teasing when they were safely returned to the palace. “Not that she’s _going_ to do any kissing, right? Because that would be a terrible breach of propriety and etiquette, and you would not like to disappoint your mother. Right?”

Serenity made a sound of utmost disappointment, her royal bearing fully abandoned in the face of this utter denial of her desires. She turned her pouting face to Makoto's direction. 

Makoto was not looking;she was determined that she would not see it. It was best for them all that Minako be the good-natured disciplinarian now, so that Rei did not rake them over the coals later. 

The princess of the Earth surrendered. 

"That's right," she muttered. Under her breath, she added a rebellious, "I bet _Mother_ was never tempted by beautiful people from other worlds."

Makoto did her the kindness of pretending she hadn't heard. The entire planet was aware that Queen Serenity was as interested in love - and sharing her rule - as fish were in taking flight. Minako, her lips twitched into a faint, amused smile, did the same.

Looking ahead, the path seemed to open into a clearing, pave-stones giving way to grasses. Endymion's voice was clearer now, though the tall walls of shrubbery and flowers kept him from sight. 

"Yes, of course, there's every reason to think that they're fine, but what if they're not? What if her delegation was held up and they haven't even made it into the gardens because they're waiting for me to make some sort of proclamation and -"

Makoto continued to walk forward, deliberately trodding upon a pair of stray twigs to announce their nearness. The prince's frantic voice went silent. 

The other man - the gardener that Minako mentioned? - had a quiet voice that was loud in the sudden absence of his prince's fretting. "I told you there was nothing to worry about."

Only Makoto and Minako simultaneously groping for her arms kept Serenity from immediately abandoning all dignity and running forward, a fact which Serenity confirmed by huffing and stomping a foot. 

Some things simply never changed. 

"You can have your romantic reunion _after_ you're properly presented. Serenity, please. It will not hurt you to behave with all the dignity of your station," Makoto scolded. 

Minako jumped in next, a placating smile on her face. "You'll trip over a rock as soon as you go running towards him with your luck. Let him be the nervous wreck and you the composed one. It will be a nice twist on all the old stories! A divine prince floats down from the heavens to proclaim his love for a beautiful mortal princess and whisk her away - only he's so nervous about doing it that _he_ trips into a rose bush and ruins their date!" 

"He snuck down to Earth looking for help with his roses, not to whisk away any beautiful princesses," Serenity corrected, her voice a perfect mimicry of Ami's most snooty tone. She dropped it just a moment later, grinning. "He _is_ very cute when he goes fumbling around though."

"I was close enough then! Roses, women - they're both beautiful and liable to stab you. It’s basically the same thing. Come along, come along, let your dear companion - that would be me - introduce you properly so you don't have to lie to the queen when you say everything was just as dignified and proper as she said it had to be.

And before their princess could say anything more, Minako stepped into the courtyard and out of sight. Only her voice carried back to them, as Makoto and Serenity followed. 

"We seek pardon from the Prince of the Moon, Endymion, and thank him for his patience. Presenting her royal highness, Princess Serenity, Heir Apparent to the Golden Kingdom, Protector of the Earth, and her guardian, High General Makoto!"

After that, nothing save for a full scale war could have kept Serenity from stepping out and into the open, the warmest of smiles on her face. Makoto followed after her, missing the sword that belonged at her hip. She wasn’t expecting a fight, but with a blade she would have felt more prepared for one. Serenity’s bond to the Earth was a weak, tenuous thing, this far from their planet, and the winds on the Moon were weak, artificial things, without a true weather system to bolster them. If they were to need to fight their way out, she would have only her body and what lightning she could risk tearing from the artifacts around them to do it with.

If such things were necessary.

If they were fortunate, if the world was kind to her princess’ heart, they would not be. 

The first sight to catch Makoto's eye was her princess, holding out one hand in offering to Prince Endymion, looking small and delicate before his towering height, even clad in the armor of her office.

Prince Endymion wore no such armor, his tall frame instead draped in light silks, his shirt a brilliant red that contrasted nicely with his golden skin, which was visible through gaps at his shoulders, a high collar drawing attention to his neck and jawline. He wore a black vest over it, the cloth shot through with silver thread that formed an impression of constellations, his pants of the same knit and weave. Through his lavender bangs Makoto could see the symbol of the Moon Kingdom faintly glowing upon his brow. The expression on his face was as soft and hopeful as the one on her princess' face, and as he drew her hand to his lips, Makoto looked away.

Endymion carried no weapons, and he was known as a healer, rather than a warrior. Even with all his divine powers, Serenity wasn't helpless. There was no threat here so great that her princess could not have a moment of privacy. 

Especially not with Minako sidling up to the pair, silent as the grave and watchful as a raven.

Makoto turned her attention to her surroundings instead, turning once in a slow circle to take it all in and admire the beauty of the place, a beauty made from the collaboration of natural growth and thoughtful intervention. Rose bushes were the theme of this courtyard, red and white blooms framing the rim of the courtyard, interrupted only by four tall trees planted at the corners of the squared off courtyard. Carved stone benches were placed in the shade those trees offered, and in the center of the courtyard was a large table of the same stone as the benches. Atop that table was a folded square of cloth; a blanket they could choose to seat themselves on instead. 

This was, undoubtedly, to be the focus of today's meeting, and Makoto paid it no further mind. Instead, she looked to the man whose dry voice had accompanied Endymion's fretting and found him kneeling in the grass, hands paused at their work pruning a rose bush flush with red roses. His slate gray eyes stared at her through a fall of silver bangs.

He said nothing, and so she took it upon herself to gaze back at him.

The obvious was what she noted first - he was taller even than she, with broad shoulders and a well-built physique than Makoto had been prepared for, with the title of gardener hanging in the air, but at least now she understood the odd emphasis Minako had put on the word. This man had the body of a fighter - biceps the size of her fist contained by the loose sleeves of a white shirt, the white broken by a pair of purple stripes capping off each sleeve and a gaping triangular collar of an equally deep purple which came to a point just beneath his collarbone, revealing the thickness of his neck and shoulder muscles. A red tie hung loose from it, the rich color like a wound against the canvas of white and purple. 

Fingerless white gloves stretched across his forearms, capped by another pair of white stripes, and his long legs were wrapped in pants the same deep purple, ending in a pair of knee high boots. He was muscular all the way down, lithe and well-built, and he stood braced as if the world could fall around him and still he would be standing. He was undoubtedly one of Endymion’s guardians.

When finally she lifted her gaze back to his, silver eyes were still fixed on her face, assessing. She was not ashamed to admit that her roaming gaze had been admiring. 

"Makoto," she said, and extended her hand to the kneeling man with a bright smile. "I'm afraid my princess didn't leave a moment for you to be announced."

“Kunzite,” he returned, and his voice was pleasantly dry, but cool - he did not seem a man overly interested in speaking. His expression was neutral, and he clasped her hand in a neat shake, stark contrast to the kiss Endymion had pressed to Serenity’s knuckles. Absently, she wondered if that was the prince taking liberties with the hope that they wouldn’t know of the Moon’s customs, or an allowance granted to those seeking a betrothal. He said nothing further.

Makoto’s smile remained - it would take more than a man ill-acquainted with conversation to deter her. “Is this your favorite of the garden’s courtyards, or Endymion’s?”

“Must they be either?” he asked blandly, one of his brows arching minutely. 

“Are you to imply that on Princess Serenity’s first visit to the Moon Kingdom, Prince Endymion would take her to a place that meant nothing to him?” Her own brow arched now, her smile tugging into something more pointed. 

He seemed to concede, lips flexing in something that could wistfully be considered a smile. He set down his pruning shears, gracing her with his attention. His eyes, like her own, drifted to their charges every now and then. She was glad that he was watchful. “You raise a fair point. This garden was the first Endymion altered when he began collecting flowers.”

Altered, not created. 

That was reasonable, Makoto thought to herself, and yet - 

Her gaze drifted again to the gardens around them, the trees which towered above her, strong and proud, the walls of hedges, the roses themselves, mature and brilliantly blooming. This was not the sort of work even the most dedicated of men could accomplish in the span of Endymion and Serenity’s short-lived romance. This courtyard was the work of not years, but cumulative decades of growth - or at least, it would, if grown on Earth, by human hands.

“Technology?” she asked without inflection. 

“Dedication,” Kunzite answered without hesitation.

With an abruptness that bordered on rude, she redirected the subject. There was a point to political games, but she had never had the gift for them. Hers was an honest tongue. “They say the people of the Moon live centuries. That the passing of a single year is but a blink of your eyes. Will the life of my princess be but a passing fancy to your prince?”

For a long moment, Kunzite did not answer. He held the gardening shears in his hand once more and looked up at her, and she wondered at his thoughts but offered no apologies, no corrections. She had meant what she said and said what she meant. If he was accustomed to honeyed speech and sly misdirections, it was best he learned now that Makoto would not offer them.

She held his gaze in silence. She did not blink, and neither did he. 

It was he who looked away first, from her eyes to the stem of a rose, and she breathed. She could not escape the sense that he had allowed that, that if he had wanted, he could have stared until the sun fell and the mountains crumbled and after, and had merely chosen not to. She could not escape the sense that he was something _more_. Endymion looked and acted like a man. Kunzite was shaped like a man, and sounded like a man, but he did not - 

He did not _feel_ like a man.

( It didn’t matter. The Earth was home to more than humans and animals, more than plants. Her home was as powerful and wise as the Moon, and the lightning flash that split the sky was no lesser for the brevity of its life.

He did not have to be a man. )

The shears were lifted to the stem of a rose, and it was held in white gloved hands, that intense gaze favoring the beauty of the perfect blossom. 

“Endymion has toiled in this garden for longer than your princess has drawn breath. If his life were the sugar maples here, then she is the rose bush. He has lived long before her and will continue long after. But it is not for me to say if a passing fancy is all she will be.” 

It was not enough, but it was clearly all that he would offer her. Makoto’s lips pursed, and she reached for the rose, plucking it from his unresisting hand. It was only when she moved to tuck it behind her ear that he reacted, extending a hand in caution.

“I have not removed the thorns. It will prick you.”

And her lips, which had fallen from their smile, twitched. “Then let it. I would not have the rose be less than it is for my own comfort. It is the nature of the rose to be as dangerous as it is beautiful.”


	2. Act 2

The planet designated Terra in the Silver Millennium's maps was a disgusting place. The air he now breathed was damp with uncontrolled, purposeless humidity. The light above was dull and inconsistent, filtered through a layer of _clouds_ , which had, of their own volition, surrounded the area above the Golden Kingdom's palace. There was no careful manufacturing of weather, no optimization of the atmosphere, no thought to what would best suit the individual needs of each region. 

No, on Terra - _Earth_ , Prince Endymion had insisted, _they call their planet Earth_ \- the weather simply _happened_. On its own. With no direction from an expert factoring in the best conditions for the crops or the population. No, that would have been sophisticated, controlled. 

When the Earth’s Princess Serenity was granted leave to visit the Moon, Prince Endymion had petitioned - and won - a brilliantly sunny, cloudless day, best suited for showing the beauty of his gardens. Not a shadow had darkened the sky without his direction, and the picnic he had prepared had been executed with precise perfection. The Lunar Gardens had been at their most brilliant and beautiful for the demonstration. 

In return, the Earth offered enough humidity to cloud Nephrite’ face with his own thick mane of hair, his appearance rendered an uncouth mess, and a layer of clouds so dense it almost seemed as if the sun hadn’t bothered to rise. Kunzite’s own hair had become lank with moisture, and lay flat against his neck and shoulders like an unwelcome, unwanted blanket, without even the grace to actually generate heat for him to draw away.

Classy.

At least the company wasn't likely to disappoint. Though he still had reservations about Endymion's sudden infatuation (they hadn't even known each other for ten years yet; this _Romance_ had barely lasted long enough to be called more than a fling), Princess Serenity had proven herself to be as charming as Endymion had claimed, a lighthearted woman with easy smiles who made him laugh. Her guardian, too, had made for a surprisingly good acquaintance, filling in the gaps of their conversation with insightful comments and pointed questions.

Her companion, flighty and talkative as a little bird, had been less tolerable, but Kunzite was willing to look beyond that. 

When one was as disinterested in social interaction as Kunzite was, looking beyond matters was more of a necessity than a kindness. 

A whisper of " _Kunzite_ ," at a volume utterly unacceptable for a whisper broke his reverie. Slate grey eyes narrowed in annoyance.

Nephrite, a tall man whose uniform was identical to Kunzite's save for the presence of green and pink rather than purple and red, was the target of that annoyed glare, and he grinned and crossed his arms with an exaggerated shiver. "Come on, no need to level that weapon on me! I only wanted to draw your attention to the fact that His Highness is getting away."

Kunzite turned swiftly, head snapping from side to side with the cold focus of a serpent scenting for its next victim. He was furious with himself, an internal mantra of scolding lying in wait for the perfect moment to descend. How could he have been so careless?

In his moment of inattention, Endymion had managed to cross the clearing which surrounded the teleportation platform and was even now striding down the tree lined path leading away from them, merry as a lamb, humming mindlessly. There was a skip in his step, visible even from behind, and Kunzite could feel his brows twitch minutely. 

Nephrite noticed immediately, of course, and burst into a fit of raucous laughter, spooking birds into flight and causing their wayward charge to halt in place. He turned slowly, a sheepish smile dawning. 

“What are you two doing all the way back there?” he tried, eyes flicking between the still laughing Nephrite and blank-faced Kunzite.

Kunzite looked pointedly from Endymion’s eyes to the empty spot at his hip where a sword would normally rest. He didn’t need to say it - his gaze was more than effective, particularly for Endymion, who had grown up with those same disapproving eyes never more than a stone’s throw away.

“I was _fine_ ,” his prince pointed out.Kunzite lifted his gaze to a point above Endymion’s shoulder, the closest he’ll allow himself to an eyeroll, and walked to his side. 

“You are weaponless on a planet hostile to our presence,” he said pointedly, and the unspoken ‘as are we all’ was heard nonetheless.

To prove that the Silver Millennium was as committed to peace and a successful betrothal as Princess Serenity and the planet Earth were, Endymion had commanded that their weapons be left at the Lunar Palace, and though, of course, a Sailor Guardian’s greatest weapon was their ability to transform, Kunzite could not deny that he felt naked without even the slimmest of blades on his person at the best of times. 

Strolling through the untamed plant life of Earth was far from his idea of the best of times. To be asked to accept his charge wandering from his protection on top of that? All the sheepish smiles and soft eyes in the world weren’t going to budge his unamused expression. 

“Earth isn’t _hostile_ to our presence,” Endymion grumbled, as Nephrite finally stopped laughing and joined them in venturing along the path. “And Serenity -”

“Princess Serenity.”

“ _Serenity_ told me herself that this was a perfect landing pad for this visit, because it’s so close to the Golden Palace that the guard keeps the area clear of anyone who might cause trouble. One of her guardians is even supposed to be meeting us at the end of this path, so how exactly am I going to get myself into trouble here, Kunzite?”

There was a beat of silence.

“Now that you’ve said that, something is going to go horribly wrong,” Nephrite said, rolling his eyes with a pronounced sigh. “Just you wait. Right when you think you’re in the clear...”

🌕🌹🌏

The sky opened up not even ten minutes later, sheets of water pouring in a torrential downpour. It was unlike anything he’d ever seen. The acid rainfalls of Venus had the grace to evaporate before they could come close to striking the ground, and even then Venus was a civilized planet. Its citizenry lived in domed cities with well-maintained weather controls, rather than leaving them to the whims of some inordinate natural order. 

Earth was beginning to rank below a wide variety of _asteroids_ , at this point, and the only reason Kunzite was able to keep order and prevent Nephrite from doing something idiotic, like say, transforming into his full power as Sailor Jupiter, was because they managed to find Serenity’s guardian a moment later.

She found them, actually. Kunzite’s lips parted, ready to share this insight, when - 

“The rain stopped!” Endymion lowered the arms he’d hastily raised to shield himself, a relieved smile blossoming on his face. His short hair clung to his forehead, formed into a thick mass by the rain. 

“Thank fuck,” Nephrite echoed, using his own hands to start wringing out his mane. “The humidity was killing me _before_ that shit started - wait.”

He’d finally noticed what Kunzite had immediately realized - that the rain had _not_ stopped, but simply no longer fell atop them. He hadn’t noticed the most critical element though, and Kunzite was already planning a remedial course on situational awareness in the back of his mind. 

“I believe we have this young lady to thank for that,” he said smoothly, and bowed in the direction of a woman standing ten or so yards back, half-hidden under the shelter of a tree.

She was a small, round woman - any one of them could have towered over her - with shoulder-length hair of a vivid blue shade, clad in a uniform nearly identical to the one General Makoto had worn on Princess Serenity's visit to the Moon, save for the use of pale blue where Makoto wore deep green.

She stood with a rope pulled taut by a pale hand. 

Above them, in a path leading straight from their position to the tree the woman leaned against, the rain still fell - but it was captured by a series of tarps bound in rope, pulled into a tent-like formation that caused the rain to spill a distance away from them on either side. It was an impressive display of Earth's intensity, even when bound with primitive materials. 

Kunzite would bet his own life that the woman before them was the Lady Ami, who Endymion had apparently heard of but not yet been introduced to. A genius doctor rather than a warrior, if his prince’s information was correct.

“We are grateful for your assistance,” he said, voice pitched just loud enough to cover Nephrite’ muffled cursing and the soft splash as Prince Endymion took a half-step back in surprise and planted his boot in a puddle. “We weren’t anticipating rain.”

“Serenity was,” she said, and her round face was further softened by the faint smile she graced them with. "The clouds have been heavy these last few days. She felt it would be rude to let such honored guests catch cold on their way for a visit."

Her words were kind and her tone polite, but Kunzite could not help but notice the emphasis she placed on this being Serenity's feelings, Serenity's thoughts, a gesture carried out by Serenity's will. Seeking to put emphasis on Serenity's admirable qualities?

Or was she subtly expressing her own disapproval, in declining responsibility for this act of goodwill?

"We'll have to thank her as well then." Nephrite laughed and dipped forward in an awkward bow. Both of his hands had gone back to his hair, now busily combing through it with his fingers, and so it wasn’t possible for him to execute a proper display. "We'd have been in for it without you."

"I hope we haven't made you wait long," Endymion added, and he too seemed to have forgotten a touch of his royal dignity. While his bow was executed perfectly, one of his feet was busily dragging in a patch of grass, unsubtly scraping mud from the side of a formerly pristine boot. "We haven't formally met. I am Prince Endymion, and my companions are Nephrite and Kunzite, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mars. Thank you and Se - Princess Serenity both, for your patience and your efforts."

He offered a brief glance up as he spoke, indicating exactly which effort he was most grateful for, and wiped a hand across his forehead, slicking wet hair back. 

If the woman knew his thoughts, if she noticed Nephrite' self absorption, if she cared for the slip Endymion had made in his eagerness to name his love, she let none of it show on her face. Kunzite was reminded of ice sheets as he looked upon her blankly polite smile, her crystal blue eyes. 

"I am Ami, Princess Serenity’s chief medical expert and one of her guardians. It is no trouble to receive the Prince of the Moon and his guardians. Serenity waits. Follow me."

Brief speech offered, she turned her back to them and began to walk. After a startled - and bordering offended - pause from Nephrite and Endymion, the trio followed. Kunzite could not help but to think it brave that she would so readily present them her back, even as he knew the source of that bravery; they of the Silver Millennium may have been blessed with long lives and great power, but at the moment, they were in her territory, and she navigated the pulley system of ropes that kept them from being further drenched. 

It was a strange thing, though. Serenity had surely known their point of arrival, but how had she anticipated the path they would take, given that part of the way they had cut through trees, and why, if such a system for avoiding the rain was possible, had they not chosen to extend it along the entire path?

He looked again to the Lady Ami, who walked with such calm poise. Perhaps it was rude to think such things, but he couldn't help but wonder if that was her point indeed. As Princess Serenity and her guardians been set upon to navigate a maze, their group had been left at least partly to the mercy of the Earth's weather system. An eye for an eye, in a manner none could prove. 

If need be they could and would overpower this mortal woman, but Kunzite could not help but admire the spirit of her boldness, and the way it reminded him of Makoto, who had worn a thorned rose as though it were a crown and spoke of beauty and strength as though they were one. 

Among Endymion's guardians there was but one woman, and Beryl, who carried herself with the imperial grace of a queen, had never made an effort to draw close to the rest of them. Watching Ami go, he had to wonder if it was simply that all women were as capable and as coolly composed as she was, and that it was not the long expanse of her life as the solitary guardian of time that had given Beryl such poise. 

🌕🌹🌏

Rain did nothing to help the problem of humidity, particularly with their clothes dampened, but nonetheless it served to make the Earth a more tolerable habitat. The continuous striking of droplets against leaves, against dirt… The stream of it as it fell around the high wall of Ami’s power… All of it generated a white noise that was calming in its predictability. It muffled the sound of Nephrite trying and failing to make easy conversation with their guide and blurred the distant stretch of forest and turf that Kunzite could see spreading around them. 

And then they were no longer in a forest at all, the trees and native plant life thinning until the path opened up to reveal a palace in the near distance. Tall pillars guided the way. 

It hardly seemed secure. 

"The clearing you arrived in is located within the palace grounds," Ami offered, when the question was posed in more delicate terms. "Just as Prince Endymion chose to disregard an exhaustive security assessment, Princess Serenity is trusting that her suitor isn't just using this time to investigate our defenses."

Well. One could hardly miss the warning in those words, but there was no need to respond to it -

"I would never!"

\- unless one was Endymion, who had never once allowed an opportunity to passionately profess his affection and admiration for Serenity of Terra to pass him by. The ensuing conversation lasted the remainder of the journey along the pillar-lined path, up a steep flight of carved stone steps, across yet another, shorter pillar-lined path - this one paved in tablets of pale stone carved with flowers and crossed circles - until they _finally_ reached an inner receiving hall, inside of which waited Princess Serenity herself, and General Makoto lurking alongside her. 

Of course, faced with the object of his affections, Endymion did not continue his exalting of her finest qualities (all of them were her finest qualities, if he was to be believed). No, he simply stood frozen and staring until Nephrite was forced to jab at his back to get him moving again. 

Kunzite was quite certain he heard Ami stifle a fit of laughter. He carefully avoided looking in her direction, so as not to confirm it. 

Introductions were offered briefly. Without the chance for an audience to make a scandal from the informality of their meeting, Princess Serenity seemed as willing as Prince Endymion was to abandon the stiffness of tradition. It wasn't the proper way to do things, but not even in the deepest depths of their traditions was there a map on the proper conducting of a love-match between Lunar and Terran royalty. Kunzite would know - he had looked through each book and file in the imperial library and had set Jadeite to discreetly question every advisor and matchmaker who might have some glint of insight. 

Nothing had turned up. Endymion and Serenity were carving their own path, with all the judgement of their elders upon them and none of their guidance.

It explained why they spent so much of their courtship on walks and picnics. 

Serenity clapped her hands together, gathering the attention of the room. Her smile was bright and cheery, warm where the sky outside was gloomy. "Seeing as the weather decided to ruin our plans for a second picnic lunch, Makoto has helped me set up a tour of the palace, and we can take lunch at the end!"

"The more popular areas of the palace, at least," Makoto interjected smoothly. She'd stepped up, the end of her cape flowing neatly about the base of her boots as she settled into place at Serenity's side. 

“A tour of the most popular areas of the palace!” Serenity cheered, as if this had been her plan all along, and the interruption had never happened. “The upper corridors will allow us to view the gardens, and the colony grounds!”

Colony? 

Kunzite chanced a glance at his Prince and Nephrite, and found that while Nephrite’ expression was gratifyingly blank, his prince’s face was split with an unnervingly bright smile. Perhaps colony had another meaning on Earth...?

“Does this mean we aren’t strangers anymore?” Endymion asked, and Kunzite was officially baffled.

Frankly, it was a state he was most unfamiliar with. 

Serenity went pink, the whites of her eyes visible all around for a moment before her cheeks puffed and she pressed her lips together. She was pouting. It was adorable. 

Kunzite had no idea what was happening.

At least he wasn’t the only one. A glance around the room showed that Nephrite looked like a particularly bewildered cat with his hair blooming in size as it dried, and both Ami and Makoto wore expressions of fond confusion on their faces, looking between the grinning prince and the flustered princess.

“Forgive my rudeness, but what are you two _talking_ about? What colony? No one said the Earth had a colony?”

And this was why it was good to travel with a companion. Kunzite could stand with his face schooled in an impassive expression, and Nephrite could wear his bafflement as plainly as he wore the pink tie hanging from his neck. Nephrite clearly felt no shame or disgrace in booming his voice for all to hear, his hands on his hips, face as tumultuous as the storms that razed the surface of his guardian planet. 

The two royals froze, as if they'd only just realized that there was an audience observing their conversation. Endymion went as red as Serenity had, tilting his head in her direction even as he cut his eyes towards them. Serenity shook her head, the force enough to snap her twintails, and her puffed cheeks deflated in a slow hiss of air that did nothing to soften the stubborn set of Endymion’s mouth. 

It was a silent conversation, and Kunzite, who had always perfectly understood Endymion’s every faint noise and slight gesture, struggled to interpret it. It was as though a familiar language had suddenly revealed a hidden dialect, leaving him at a loss for what to do next.

Before he could dwell on these facts, the silent argument ended, and Serenity turned to face Kunzite and Nephrite. Her face was still flushed and her smile a touch embarrassed, but she spoke in a clear and steady voice. 

“My apologies for the confusion, but your information is correct. The Earth does not have any colony states, but the Golden Kingdom _does_ have a colony of rabbits here on the ground. They’re my personal pets, and…”

She trailed off, and Endymion continued where she’d left off, his own cheeks no longer flushed, his eyes triumphant. 

“When we first met, Serenity told me that I could explore the gardens with her, but that the colony ground was off-limits, because her rabbits were afraid of strangers. In all the time we’ve seen each other since, I’ve never been allowed the chance to meet them. That we can do it now…”

“It doesn’t count,” Serenity huffed. “You’re _observing_ them, not meeting them.”

“Because the rain is keeping me from them. If it weren’t raining, you’d be taking me right to them.”

“If it weren’t raining, I’d be taking you on a picnic.”

“A picnic to the colony grounds, because I’m no longer a stranger.”

“A picnic to the _lake_ -”

They squabbled like children, and despite the risk of it, deep in the center of a foreign palace, Kunzite allowed himself to zone out, to drift from the immediate present to the near-past, the near-future. There was no aggression in their words, no bite to their arguing, and still the act of it brought out something vital in Endymion, something childish and warm that had been missing for so long that Kunzite had forgotten to question it. 

They hadn't behaved this way on the Moon. Endymion had been gregarious, had been warm, had been head over heels in adoration, but he hadn't argued or teased or laughed so openly. Serenity hadn't either - for all her charm and charisma, she had still carried herself with the poise of a princess and the readiness of a warrior. 

Zoisite had called it odd, afterwards. They had reviewed the footage of the date, four guardians and the soldier of time looming behind them, watchful but silent as was her way. Terra's people were mortal and weak, and a soul strong enough to bear the power of that planet was born only rarely, but they had always been healers of the spirit, in the way that Endymion was a healer of the flesh. Their efforts at gathering intelligence on Terra were slow, their people hard to disguise amidst the Terrans, but they knew that Serenity's power had bred true, and that she even carried a staff, as all the guardians of Terra before her had. 

What need did a healer have for a soldier's walk? What was the true nature of this woman Endymion loved?

But now, Serenity's face was as soft and open as Endymion's, and her poise had been abandoned for joy, and Kunzite didn't know what to make of it, the thought that he could have missed something as vital as his charge's unhappiness. 

He looked away and saw that he did not watch alone. While Nephrite and Ami waded into the laughing argument, Makoto stood and watched, as he did, her eyes focused on her princess, and he wondered if her thoughts echoed his own. She turned, and her gaze met his, those emerald eyes widening in surprise. Her hand brushed back a curl of brown hair, and he found himself wondering at the fate of the rose he'd given her, if she'd carried it to this palace still pinned behind her ear.

"She breeds rabbits?" he asked, for want of something intelligent to say. 

Fond exasperation filled Makoto's face, an emotion Kunzite was far too familiar with. 

"She _collects_ rabbits," she corrected, and the last remnants of her guarded posture vanished as she gestured with a loose hand to her princess. "She loves them, and they love her, and she feeds them an inordinately rich diet of fruits and vegetables grown at her own direction. Every winter, we have an abundance of stews and fresh furs for clothing, and she pretends she has no idea where it all comes from.”

“At her own direction?” _Not by her own hand_ , he thought to himself, wondering. Serenity had listened to Endymion discuss his gardens with an expression of rapt interest;he’d been half-convinced she must be a gardener herself. 

“Serenity has never met a plant she couldn’t kill with love,” came the amused response, and he felt one of his brows rise a fraction in surprise. Makoto’s face was bright with amusement. “I was as surprised as you must be right now when she told us Prince Endymion was a gardener. My princess has many talents, but growing things isn’t one of them.”

“And yet they spent an hour discussing rose propagation techniques,” he pointed out. His eyes strayed to the others. Beside the two royals were Ami and Nephrite, who seemed to have swapped places, arguing on behalf of their opposing royal. The conversation had moved on from gardening - Nephrite had moved to gesticulating, his arms moving in sweeping motions in the direction of the princess, and he heard ‘ _obviously eggplant is the best vessel’ -_ and he deliberately tuned the rest out, shaking his head. 

Makoto’s smile only widened. It was obvious that she’d also decided letting the conversation play out was the best option. “The things people do for love. Her childhood tutors would have burned offerings to see my princess as devoted to her studies then as she is to learning about gardening now.”

“But she has no interest in the subject itself?”

“As I said - the things people do for love. It makes Prince Endymion happy, to discuss gardening and cuttings and the growth rate of vines grown in soil with heavier or lighter clay content, and it makes her happy to see him smile.”

“In all his life, Endymion has never shared a serious opinion on cooking,” Kunzite offered in return, thinking of the changes he had seen in his prince. “And yet now -”

Their heads turned to the arguing quartet. Ami had found a tablet of stone _somewhere,_ and she had Endymion were pointedly marking out equations and formulas for -

“Are they solving for the correct ratio of garlic to meat?” Makoto asked quietly. Her tone was incredulous, a gloved hand failing to hide her smile. 

“It would appear so.”

“Perhaps we should remind them of our plans for the day. If they’ve broken out the slates, we could be here all day…”


	3. Act 3

It was in this way that a year passed: on each fortnight, the Prince of the Moon descending to the Earth alongside a pair of his guardians or the Princess of the Earth ascending to the Moon with a pair of her own. At each meeting, the pair would spend half of their day together, sharing in the joy of each other’s company, and the other half of their day at the side of their ruling parent, sharing their thoughts on the betrothal contract, on the proceedings, on the surety of this alliance.

Never before had the Earth and Moon stood together at a table to discuss a common cause. 

Never before had the Earth shared any sign that they might be willing to place themselves under the yoke of the Moon.

As far as the Earth was concerned, the chief priority of this betrothal was to ensure that this remained the case - that it be understood that princess or not, marriage or not, the Earth was not and would never be a vassal state to the Moon, but an equal.

As far as the Silver Millennium was concerned, these were the first steps in a dance that would end with the ten celestial powers of the Sol system finally united under one power. Their prince would live a life ten times as long as the Terran healer. If marriage would bind them, then he could find another, and another after her, until marriage was no longer needed, and Terra existed as Mars did, as Venus did, as Pluto and Mercury and Jupiter and all the powers of the Sol System did... 

Natural pieces in a grander whole. 

But to Endymion and Serenity, this was the year in which they could finally share their love openly - the year where, for the first time, they snuck about by choice, a game between laughing lovers rather than by necessity, in the furtive sneaking of cautious thieves, each aware that the heart they stole was the precious jewel of a kingdom. 

They talked together under the light of the sun, exploring the domed cities of the Moon and riding horseback to the far reaches of the Golden Kingdom. Endymion spun tales of brilliant Venus, scholarly Mercury, and bellicose Mars, those planets who, like Earth, were solid enough for life to grow atop the surfaces. Serenity shared stories of her journeys across the Earth and its many kingdoms, who had only recently come together under a single, golden throne, and the beauty that could be found in every culture, every land. They marveled together at the homes that they loved and the responsibilities they had each carried all their lives.

And ever at their sides were Kunzite and Makoto: the hands linking them back to those responsibilities, the voices that carried caution to their ears when their tongues might have wagged too freely, the eyes that watched for danger and directed them towards safer paths. They were loyal guardians, but content to fade in the background, occupying themselves with quiet conversations, shared observations, peaceful silences. 

For gregarious Makoto, whose open heart and ready smile had bewildered many a soul unfortunate enough to cross blades with her, this in and of itself was nothing noteworthy - but for frigid Kunzite, who never entered a conversation with nothing less than a full-scale extermination strategy, the current state of affairs was nothing less than a revelation to his comrades, his brothers-in-arms, his - 

“A toast to Kunzite, who’s finally going for the surgical removal of the stick that’s been lodged up his ass!”

\- soon to be victims.

Nephrite was going to be his first target - that man who stood now with a glass raised to the domed sky, head thrown back in laughter, grinning face framed by his mane of curly brown hair, crowing his toast to the world at large. He didn’t wear the uniform of a guardian, not now, but simple black slacks and a loose-necked copper blouse. The golden-brown drink in his glass sloshed as he waved it, but didn’t spill. 

That was lucky for the second target, Jadeite of Venus, who had his arm thrown around Nephrite’ shoulders and was absolutely within the spill range. The blond guardian  _ was _ still in uniform, his orange pants and collar offering eye-smarting brightness next to the more subdued palette of the rest of the group. Jadeite’ grin promised nothing so much as mockery, his raised glass crystal clear with fresh water. 

At least he wasn’t drinking on duty.

“It’s been long coming,” Jadeite laughed, “Kunzite, I never thought I’d live to see the day!”

“You might not, if you keep this up,” Zoisite sniffed from where he was sprawled on his back across a couch. Like Jadeite, he was in uniform, the two-toned blues far more sedate than his eye-catching partner. Unlike Jadeite, the Mercurian's glass was filled with sparkling liquor. “I don’t know why you two think our bold leader won’t kill you, but - “

“It would make me  _ very _ sad if you killed them, Kunzite,” interrupted Prince Endymion, and nothing in the world was so unfortunate as the fact that that single sentence guaranteed Nephrite and Jadeite would live. “But someone  _ should  _ give me an explanation.”

Kunzite settled a sullen glare on the two rather than speak, silent as they shared a glance and then turned to their prince in concert. 

"Kunzite's got a crush on General Makoto," Nephrite said finally, emboldened by liquid courage. He was grinning, but his eyes stayed carefully fixed on Prince Endymion, where there was no chance at all that he could glimpse the visible Ami of death radiating from the Soldier of Mars. “We were just congratulating him on uh, finally giving love a chance -”

“And opening himself up to new people and experiences,” Jadeite chimed in, casting a sly glance Kunzite’s way. “You know, the way you’re always telling him to do.”

His prince’s eyes were growing wide, and so was his smile, the stars themselves shining happily in his eyes as he embraced the possibility, the thought, the  _ concept  _ now unfolding itself before his eyes. 

“No,” Kunzite said. 

This was ridiculous. He couldn’t believe that they were doing this to him. Well over a hundred years of camaraderie, and they were turning on him like this, every last one of his supposed allies. 

Even his prince was about to betray him. He could tell that in just a moment he would open his mouth and spit out something inconceivably foolish -

“That’s wonderful!” Endymion cheered.

“ _ No _ ,” Kunzite snapped.

His denials were not working. 

He had to shut this down. He had to make them see that they had taken leave of their senses to think that just because he’d encountered a person who matched his pace and shared his sense of duty and happened to be rather remarkably beautiful, he was possessed of something as childish as a  _ crush _ .

“You should have told me,” Prince Endymion continued, eagerly. Behind him, Zoisite was smirking. In front of him, Jadeite and Nephrite were biting their lips to hide laughter.

“There is nothing to tell! I am not - “   
  


🌕🌹🌏

“- in love with Kunzite of Mars,” Makoto said firmly, glowering at each of her companions. 

They had gathered in the small cottage in Serenity's rabbit garden, a 'hideout' within the grounds of the palace that was no hideout at all, but a gracious compromise between a queen who worried endlessly and a daughter prone to wander. There were times when Serenity, who had walked the globe to master her golden power and heal the hurts of a planet torn by war, needed to disappear. There had been a time when the Queen, kept protected behind safe lines, could do nothing but fear. 

This cottage was where they could both be happy - the princess happily undisturbed and the queen well aware of her location. And of course, there was enough room inside for all four of the princess' guardians and a handful of the more friendly rabbits to sit inside with her. They had gathered here, on the off-week where Serenity would not be seeing Prince Endymion, with the goal of teasing their friend and enjoying a bottle of finest quality arak fetched from the kitchens. 

Makoto had not seen this betrayal coming, but really, she should have. 

"So you haven't yet acknowledged your feelings for him?" Ami asked politely, her pale cheeks flushed pink with drink. Hers was the greatest betrayal of them all, for had Makoto known the direction this evening would take, she would have counted on Ami's firm grasp of logic to back her position. 

Instead, she was an even worse romantic than Serenity, given, of course, that the romance was intended for someone else. 

Rei and Minako snickered. Serenity hid her face behind her glass, as if the milky contents could possibly disguise her smile. 

"I have acknowledged that I have  _ no _ feelings for him," Makoto said firmly, "besides a professional respect for his conduct and the breadth of his knowledge."

"You mean the breadth of his shoulders." Minako shook her head, her smile a wicked thing. She leaned forward, topping off her glass with another splash of arak and a double splash of water to balance it, the milky coloring deepening. "Come on, Makoto, you're among friends. You can tell us!"

"There's nothing to tell. I have no feelings for a man I've -"

Serenity interrupted gleefully, "Spent a day with every other week, participating in all the most romantic occasions with Endymion and I?"

Makoto groaned, and took a long swallow from her glass to make up for the trial she was so cruelly being put through. The sweet, fruity flavor of the arak coated her mouth, the spicy-sweetness of anise lingering on her tongue. The strength of the liquor, even cut with two parts water to a single part arak, burned on the way down, pleasant in comparison to the chatter of her companions.

"Serenity, it is my  _ job _ to join you on these romantic outings. It doesn't mean I have feelings for a man likewise required to attend."

"But it doesn't mean you  _ don't  _ have feelings for him either, and there's so much space between love and -"

"Not love?" Rei suggested, a wry smile on her face. For all that she laughed with the rest, the seer was the closest thing Makoto had to an ally at the moment - she alone had yet to suggest that romance was on the horizon. 

But Serenity would not be stopped. "Exactly! There's so much space between love and not love! You could like him! Do you  _ like _ him, Makoto?"

She put an emphasis on the word  _ like _ , a weight that even the most ignorant child couldn't have ignored, let alone a woman of Makoto's age and position. Serenity was teasing and her voice was light, but it was equally clear that she wanted an answer. 

Makoto was not prepared to offer one. 

"Why are you so interested?" she asked instead, serious. "And why now? You've had more than a year to think about it - why is it here and now you've decided to ask if I like him?"

There was a moment of quiet as her princess looked at her, clearly weighing possible responses, and her fellow guardians watched with her, the levity dimmed but not extinguished from their faces. 

"I just think it would be nice if someone else was in love," Serenity said finally, her clumsy fingers surprisingly graceful as they twirled and swirled her half-empty glass. "Nicer still if all of us were in love, but -"

And she stopped herself, lips pursed together in a childish pout, the expression that signified even she felt the sentiment she would have expressed was naive at best. 

Unfortunately, Makoto couldn't guess  _ what  _ that sentiment might have been, her brain buzzing over what had already been admitted, and also with the alcohol she'd consumed. 

Minako didn't seem to have that problem, setting her empty glass down with a delicate clink that of course drew all eyes her way. "Are you sure you don't mean to say it would be nicer if you weren't the only one in love with a spaceman from beyond our skies?"

The words, once said, made a perfect sort of sense; Makoto couldn't believe the idea hadn't come to her first. For all that Serenity had been flighty and lovesick when they were children, she had matured with age and war. It was not only that she wished one of her inner circle had also been afflicted with love - it was that she wished she wasn't alone in this. 

The revelation softened Makoto's heart;the drink loosened her lips. (She wasn't drunk, not truly - even in the center of Serenity's own palace, she would not lower her guard enough to enter a state of true drunkenness. But she was also not sober, and that would ever after be her excuse.)

"I do like him," her voice tumbled out in starts and stops, strung together not with grace but an air of reluctant grievance. "He has no charm and no charisma, he puts on no airs. Half of our conversations are my voice and his silent nods, but his eyes are split between Endymion and I - two thirds the time on his prince and a third on me, the same way I am with you. He shares his opinion only rarely, but always defends it well, and he's stopped being such a snob about the cold rock he calls home, and I do like him, a bit. But I'm not willing to call it anything more, not when I don't want to fight for it."

For a moment they stared at her, her princess and her fellow guardians, and at least their expressions were not a perfect mirror - Serenity was distinctly gleeful, while Ami was contemplative, no doubt reflecting on some tale of romance or another. Minako's face was statuesque calm, no feeling painted there at all, while Rei looked unsettled, uncertain; Makoto made a note to speak with her in private, to find out of her obvious unease was over idea of a romance in and of itself or some vision of the future she'd seen and not yet shared.

And then the moment passed, and they were all speaking at once. 

"I knew it! You have to tell me everything, absolutely everything. What do you mean you won't fight for it?!"

"When did you first decide it was like rather than professional amiability?"

"Should you still be the primary on these exchanges?"

"Are you going to tell him?"

The last two were the ones that most captured her attention, professionally and personally. 

"I'm not going to tell him unless it looks like he feels the same way, in which case I would tell the rest of you. I  _ absolutely  _ should remain Serenity's primary guardian," she said firmly, scowling at Minako, who had posed the question mildly, her head tilted just so. The two of them had been guardians the longest, had trained long hours together in their youth while Ami and Rei accompanied Serenity as companions. She doubted that any save Rei would read the challenge that faint tilt of the head offered. 

But she knew, and Minako knew she knew, and it was enough. 

"Liking a man will not stop me from protecting Serenity - it will not stop me from protecting her even from him, even if my only recourse were to put a sword through his back myself. I might like him, but I love Serenity."

All the drink in the world was not enough to sway her on that stance, to inject doubt into those words. 

Minako nodded, and perhaps she was satisfied, or perhaps she wasn't; Makoto doubted that she would ever fully know. Where she was straightforward, Minako was curved. Where she demanded answers, Minako teased them out. Where her words could not be misunderstood, fields of potential lay in much of Minako's. They had ever been opposites, united in that neither of them would ever allow danger to reach Serenity. 

They would each cut out their own bleeding hearts first. 

"You know, Serenity can protect herself," their princess cut in, all pouting lips and concerned eyes, seeing the hidden currents of their conversation but unable to plumb their depths. Redirection had always been her tool of choice. 

Makoto let herself be drawn in, and saw Minako do the same, the line of her shoulders softening. 

"Serenity, you can barely climb a tower by yourself," she said, the first volley launched, and watched her princess squawk indignantly. 

"I can too -!"


	4. Act 4

"How about a bet?" 

The whispering voice was Makoto’s. It was a week later, and the night was quiet enough that a whisper was necessary to go unheard. 

Kunzite tilted his head to look at her, as he had been half-avoiding all night, and found that her eyes were bright with mischief in the dim light of the earthshine. A smile tugged at her lips, and her hair had been pulled back with the aid of two braids - one about the crown of her head, seeming to start from her forehead and working its way down and around the back of her ears and head in a complete circle, and the other gathering the rest of her hair into a single high tail that fell in a neat braided mass to her shoulders. 

It was a style unlike any other Kunzite had seen before, and he couldn't help but sneak peaks from the corner of his eyes, marveling at the neat tuck and twist of the style, the way it efficiently kept any strands from falling in the way as they rowed. 

His own hair fell down his back in its usual fashion, and with every swing of his arms and flex of his shoulders, more of it skipped out place, sliding against his neck and face. The manufactured winds, ordered to make the picnic feel more romantic, were not helping. Seated so closely to the beauty that was General Makoto, he felt no satisfaction in the romantic scene he'd arranged. 

This was meant to be a much needed change of pace for Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity, a traditional outing rather than the usual ramshackle of adventure followed by a picnic, not...this.

Not the two of them seated so closely that the wrong move would cause their knees to brush - every motion of his body in this cramped seating drawing attention to the tight fit of his uniform over the breadth of his shoulders, every motion of her body drawing attention to the tailored fit of her own uniform, the shift of her bosom as she worked her paddles. 

(He was not, and he repeated, he was not looking at her breasts. It was only that he'd never before noticed that the sides of her white jacket came together just so, as if highlighting their plumpness. It was only that the material seemed soft, asking to be touched. He was not looking. He did not see it.)

When he'd planned for them to row their way across the earthlit lake, the stars high above without a cloud in the atmosphere, he had only imagined how Princess Serenity might sigh, how Prince Endymion might smile, pointing out the architectural features along the lakeside, the historic buildings that could just barely be seen through the trees, a hint at the brief hike to come. It had been Endymion who suggested they row across in pairs. 

What a fool he was to agree. How shortsighted he had been, to not see that this was so clearly a plot inspired by the talk his fellows had subjected him to a mere week before.

No, he was most certainly not pleased. He was, in fact, going to make Nephrite run laps until he vomited, and then run still more. Even if he wasn’t the ultimate ringmaster, he would have done enough to encourage this travesty to deserve it. 

Maybe he’d make them _all_ run until they vomited. Maybe he’d include himself. He couldn’t possibly be… not looking… at certain assets… if he was preoccupied with the thought of what hell awaited him on the training grounds. 

He’d completely forgotten the question.

“Would you repeat that?”

Makoto laughed, still quiet, and lifted one hand from her paddles, pointing to the boat they were taking care to stay just to the right of, only a paddle length ahead of them. It was enough to ostensibly allow privacy but really still allow the two of them to hear near-every word their charges exchanged. 

“I said, how about a bet? On the princess and prince, of course. I’m betting you that it will be your prince that goes over the boat into the lake before my princess.”

The boat their charges were on rocked as she spoke. He couldn’t see what exactly the cause was, but he saw Prince Endymion reach out and curl his hand around one of Princess Serenity’s dainty shoulders. He thought back to every moment of (at first) surprising klutziness he’d seen the Earth’s princess exhibit over the last year, from pinwheeling to keep from plunging down stairs to being so absorbed in talking she walked into her own horse.

Betting was unprofessional, gambling beneath him.

“What are the stakes?” 

He had seen Makoto smile a great many times over the course of the year - from smiles of hidden amusement to joyful beaming to a content curl of the lips. This grin that stretched across her features now was one he hadn’t yet seen, and it reminded him unsettlingly of the crocodiles Princess Serenity had once eagerly shown Endymion (and then quickly yanked him away from, when showing turned into ‘escaping a feeding frenzy’ after his eager prince had thrown the ‘poor creature’ a chunk of fish). 

The white of her teeth, exposed enough that he could see the little hook of her canines, told him that he might well regret asking.

But ask he had, and she gave him an answer without hesitation:

“A dance at the Lunar Ball.”

And for a moment, he could only stare. He felt absurdly sure that at any moment her face would shift, that her teasing grin would become Zoisite’ most smug sneer, a disguise pen pointed at his chest. Why else would his companion of a year, his fellow guardian against inanity and danger alike, ask for such a thing.

Apparently, he was quiet for just a moment too long. Uncertainty flashed in Makoto’s eyes, and her grin wavered, face becoming pensive. “If you’re opposed -”

“I’m not,” his mouth said before he could truly consider the concept. “Opposed, that is.”

What, as Jadeite might say, the fuck.

🌕🌹🌏

He said yes. 

Fuck. 

What was she _thinking_ ? Had she not, only a week ago, said she intended to say nothing without a sign that he felt the same way? Had she not, _only a week ago_ , affirmed to herself and to her fellows that this was only a crush?

She had. Those facts had obviously done little to stop her, and now - now he’d said yes. Well, he’d said he wasn’t opposed, which was a pedant’s way of saying yes. 

A part of her, sounding like Minako, said that she ought to blame it on Serenity - to say that her princess liked the idea of not being the only one with a date, that she should pin the request on duty before he could grasp her feelings. 

Makoto ignored it. 

“Then if your prince falls in first, you’ll ask me for a dance at the ball. And if my princess falls in first, I'll be the one to ask you for a dance."

A dance, in and of itself, meant nothing. They would be doing plenty of dancing at the ball, three at a time somewhere on the dance floor and two always standing without distraction. The point wasn't to secure a dance.

The point that she would admit to herself, and then to her peers (for there was no point in secrets, and she refused to hide the truth from herself), was to be asked. To be invited not just politically or professionally, but personally, and apparently she was willing to consider _losing a bet_ a personal reason, now. 

"I can't help but notice that we'll share a dance either way," Kunzite noted, still not quite looking at her as he'd been doing all night. Makoto wasn't entirely sure what that was about, but the comment was at least something she _did_ know what to do about. 

"Did you think there was a chance we wouldn't?" 

There was more that she could add, but she didn't bother. That was the core of the question, the critical point. 

Did he believe that there was a world in which they _weren't_ going to share a dance at the Lunar Ball? If he did… Well, her opinion of him would drop a touch, but she'd still think highly of him. 

"...No. You raise a fair point." _Smart man._ "I'll be near Prince Endymion when you're ready to ask."

A faint smile curved his lips. She could catch only a bare glimpse of it with the way his face was turned, the gleam of the earthshine highlighting only a portion of his profile and casting the rest into shadow.

So he had jokes. 

"I didn't know you were studying to be a jester in your free time," Makoto said dryly. At his raised brow and tilted head, she allowed her own smile to spread. "You’re making jokes. _I_ will have found a convenient balcony to keep lookout from when you’re ready to ask for a dance. You could have another rose in hand.”

The rose she’d claimed from him had been kept in a vase for a while, but it was only a flower. Ithad withered with time and been discarded long ago.

She’d never forgotten that moment, when they spoke. She hadn’t even considered him a man, then, not with his otherworldly presence and the mirror-bright shine to his pale eyes. But he had been honest, if not forthright, and that had been enough to spark her interest; hours working together in concert, talking, existing, minding their equal opposite duties had been enough to fan that spark into a flame.

It might be foolish to act on it, but only if she were unprepared. Only if her eyes and ears were closed to the truth, and they weren’t. 

Makoto would always have duty, and so would Kunzite. It was the most attractive thing about him, besides the appreciation of his gaze, the competence of his every move. He would never ask her to compromise herself, would never mistake himself for the highest priority in her life. 

If she were ever going to even consider a crush - wasn’t this the one to pursue?

“You kept the rose?” Was that surprise in his face, in his voice? She wished he would look at her. 

But he didn’t. She cast her eyes from his face to Serenity, where they belonged, and found that the skiff she and Prince Endymion commanded had righted itself, moving smoothly through the water rather than rocking. Her princess rowed with more enthusiasm than technique, a fact which didn’t surprise her in the least - Serenity’s abilities had always been the fruit of hard work rather than the gift of talent. They had sailed, but never in crafts like these - decorative pieces, more floating works of art than practical boats. 

If he was surprised that she had kept the rose, he hadn’t been paying enough attention. “It was a gift. Of course I did.”

“You took it from my hand,” he pointed out, and as she rowed so did he, first one and then the other, in sync. Was that the best he could offer?

“Because you let me. If it wasn’t meant for my hands, you would have never relinquished it. You keep what’s yours.”

“Shall I pretend we’re still talking about only the rose?”

A splash interrupted, the sound coming from behind them and far off to the left, where their companions were watching out for their charges' left side. Ami had come with her for this outing, given that it would be largely on water, and Makoto had paid her fellow some attention on this trip out, but she’d paid closer attention to her princess than the doctor who commanded the nature of the seas, even though her choice of nautical compatriots had been foreign to them all -

_“Jadeite has unexpectedly taken ill,” Kunzite had said, his voice touched with regret. He would know how little she cared for a change of routine when it came to matters like these. “Beryl of Pluto will take his place. She is one of Endymion’s Outer Guardians.”_

\- and she turned toward the source of the splashing, hoping she was not about to regret that decision.

The conversation, for the moment, fell to the wayside. 

🌏🌹🌏

Ami had thought herself wise to the depths of irritation that a person could descend, thought herself inured to the level of annoyance people generate - had thought that being a doctor, being a war time doctor at that, had been good for more than honing her medical knowledge and the steadiness of her hands. She had been wrong; she could say that now. She was not immune to frustration or annoyance.

Because she might well have to cause an interplanetary incident with her own hands, if the other woman in this boat did not stop _ceaselessly shifting about_.

“Beryl,” she began, not for the first time, “we will keep pace with the others if you row with me. Keeping your eyes on them will not help our pace.”

It was the nicest thing that she could bring herself to say, when all she wanted was to scream. 

Well, not scream. She wasn’t Makoto, who could get away with something as blunt as that by virtue of being tall and carrying a sword. But she would have quite liked to _accidentally_ dump a paddle worth of water onto Beryl’s lap. They couldn’t have been out on the water for twenty minutes. It was shameful, or it should have been, how frustrated she already was.

It was just that Beryl would not do _anything_ helpful. Even now, with Ami's voice tight with the effort restraining her frustration, the Guardian of Pluto did not take her eyes off her prince. She also did not tighten her grip on her paddles or give any indication that she meant to assist in their task any time soon. 

If only the nature of these talks did not require that displays of power be avoided for all causes, save the protection of her princess. It would have been the effort of but a single thought to propel their vessel, all of their vessels, to the island where the picnic awaited. 

(At some point, someone (not Ami) would have to point out that there was more to romantic expression than a brief quest followed by a picnic, but that someone (again, not Ami, who was too charmed by her princess' lackluster efforts at romance to change a thing) would have some explaining to do about why they didn’t mention that little tid bit sooner. 

Hopefully, it would happen where she could watch; she could already picture Serenity's plaintive expression.)

Instead she had to row by hand, sitting in awkward silence with a woman who seemed half-convinced that Prince Endymion would die instantly if she took her eyes off him. 

"We would keep better pace if we both rowed," Ami said, and did not allow herself to consider what would happen if _she_ simply refused to row as well. 

She wasn't expecting a response.

"We're keeping pace well enough," Beryl said, her voice distant, the chill of glacial ice seeping from every word. "Of the two of us, you're better suited for the work."

For a torment (but only a moment) Ami did not understand, could not understand. 

And then she did, brows cinching close, furrowed deep, lips pulled back in a disgusted scowl.

"How unfortunate then, that the task is for two. Be of some use, Lady Beryl, or make your departure. We who work have no room among us for a gawker."

If her words became the grounds for a new conflict between the Earth and Moon, she would owe Serenity an apology, but she doubted that even one of her peers, let alone her princess, would find her words unbecoming or unnecessary. 

She'd had it coming. 

"Excuse me?" Beryl demanded, frigid now rather than merely cool, as if the threat of her icy disdain alone would be enough to cow Ami. 

Someone should have told her that Ami had not earned her place at Serenity’s side by flinching from the bite of ice. Someone should have told her that she did not crumble under the pressure of anything, let alone the disapproval of a single woman from beyond their skies. 

Her cold scorn meant nothing.

"I'm sure you heard me," Ami said, her smile unphased by her fast-beating heart, steady as the bobbing iceberg, revealing its dangers only when it was too late. "I am not your servant, here to cater to a noble woman's fragilities. If rowing the skiff _your prince_ selected for this venture is beneath your delicate sensibilities, then perhaps the Lady Beryl should resign her post."

She watched with satisfaction as red flooded pale cheeks, the other woman's crimson eyes narrow with offended rage. She opened her mouth to speak. 

"Do you know who I-"

"No," Ami said flatly, cutting off her tirade before it could begin. "And I do not care. If you will spare not a moment of consideration for my titles and accomplishments, I will return the favor. Allow me to be the first to teach you that pettiness is not beneath the dignity of we humans. _Lift your paddle and row, Lady Beryl._ "

Beryl grit her teeth, and her pale complexion was not suited to the ruddiness of her blush. It was shallow and petty to find pleasure in the ruin of another's good looks, but Ami had already admitted her own pettiness and felt no shame. Her paddles were gripped in both hands, held firm enough that she could manipulate them, but not so much that her own strength would work against her aims. When she rowed, the paddles entered the water at an angle, slicing soundlessly through the surface and propelling the skiff. 

It was not a technique that Beryl understood. The white-knuckled grip in which she held her own paddles revealed that, and it was equally clear that she meant to channel her rage, her embarrassment, into the act of rowing rather than give Ami further satisfaction from a verbal defeat. 

More the fool her, for thinking it was only words that Ami would be satisfied by. 

Beryl's paddles struck the water with a harsh slap, the flat striking the water's surface with what seemed to be all her strength. Water splashed along both sides of their vessel, arcing high into the air, and Ami was subtle in ensuring that every drop that fell over their craft and towards their bodies landed on Beryl alone. 

It was impossible for their companions to miss the noise - the near-silent conversation of their fellows and the giggling-teasing flirting of their charges both cut off - and Ami smiled placidly as all eyes turned to them. 

"Apologies," she said easily, "Lady Beryl was having some difficulties. Worry not, I'll assist her."

The silent seething of her companion was music not for the ears, but the soul. 

🌏🌹🌏

"They hate each other," Makoto marveled, looking across the lake at Ami's satisfied smile, only just visible in the earthshine. "It hasn't even been an hour, how can they _hate_ each other?"

Ami was such a patient soul. What in all the hells had this Beryl done to earn such scorn so quickly?

It was only because she was watching for it that she saw the faint motion of Kunzite's brows, the minute squint of his eyes. It was not surprise or even dissatisfaction, but quiet resignation she read in that instance. She understood immediately. 

"You expected this."

The skin of his brow wrinkled - the squint was more obviously a wince this time. When he spoke, it was obvious the care that went into each chosen word. “Beryl is… an acquired taste. Her devotion to Prince Endymion is undeniable.”

Makoto understood what he didn’t say. Her back straightened without conscious thought, her chin lifting. “She does not approve of Princess Serenity as a match to Endymion.”

She wielded the title with purpose, the weight of it attached to her charge, and was just as purposeful in disregarding it for Endymion. Highlighting her priorities. Elevating her princess, where it was clear that her worth was questioned. 

This was the part she had feared - not the risk of war, though she had prepared, and not the risk of assassination, though she watched with care. No, what she had feared was the prejudice between their peoples and the scorn of the people from beyond their sky - the Lunarians who considered themselves akin to gods, with their long lives and their technology, and the judgement they would try to lay on her princess.

For generations - for _centuries_ \- their peoples had been in the midst of a fierce conflict, the Earth resisting at all turns the call of the Moon, to become one with their _Silver Millennium_ , their empire by another name, under the rule of their distant queen and the might of their _Sailor Guardians_. This marriage - Serenity’s marriage - was another battle among many, another mark on the map of their cold war. 

The people of Earth already whispered that this was only another effort to shackle their people, that the marriage was a sham and Serenity was a foolish little girl blinded by alien beauty, as if they had forgotten all their Golden Princess had accomplished with her own hands.

Makoto had not fought a war to unite her people so they could be condescended to by those who had never even descended from their place amidst the stars to experience life for themselves. Makoto had shed blood at her princess’ side to deliver Serenity to a place where her people would be considered a mark against her rather than a mantle to be upheld with pride. 

Kunzite did not deny her words. He did not speak at all. 

It was confirmation.

It was not acceptable. With deliberate and choreographed motions, she stopped her rowing and reached to grasp his paddles. Without even a sign of visible effort, she held them still, against the strength of his arms as he made to keep rowing. 

She looked into his eyes steadily. 

“Do you share her sentiment?”

It was as simple as that - did _he_ share that sentiment? Was that why he, a man who left nothing to chance, had brought to this occasion a woman so comfortable in her feelings that not even an hour could pass before they were made abundantly clear, without so much as even a word of warning? 

There were implications to this conversation, to the tone she took with Kunzite, to the dissatisfaction in her tone - implications he would carry to his prince, and to his prince’s mother, the queen who reigned over a people who even now surely looked upon the Earth as a carcass waiting for the carving knife. 

She cared not for them. Let them know that Serenity was not a bauble they would hand over without a care, that her princess’ heart was as valuable as peace between their worlds. 

Makoto was the Queen’s General. She commanded the Golden Kingdom’s armies in Her Majesty’s name, as she had for years now, as she would well into the future, until a successor was chosen by the crown and the time came for her to retire from the battleground.

She was the Queen’s General, but she was _Serenity’s_ guardian, and she would serve in that post until the day she died - and after, if the matter were up to her. 

If Kunzite would not understand that - 

“I do not,” Kunzite said, and for a moment Makoto was not sure she had heard him correctly, so hard had she wished to hear that answer. “I do not share her sentiments. When we first met, you asked me if Princess Serenity would be but a passing fancy for Endymion. I did not answer, then. I will now. Endymion - my prince - has given her his heart. He will outlive her, and that will be his curse, not hers.”

She did not speak. How could she, when with his very words, he echoed her sentiment? In titling Serenity and not his own prince, he said everything. He would never love her more, but that was fine. That was _fine_ , because Makoto would never love Endymion more than Serenity. What mattered was that he loved her. 

So she did not speak. 

He did. 

“I did not approve, when he first told me. I did not think he could have any meaningful connection with someone whose life would be so fleeting, who would surely be nothing more than a footnote in his history - let me finish, please.”

Her mouth had not moved, and neither had her body, but Makoto was sure her face had betrayed her. She nodded, once.

“How could a girl, any girl, be worth marriage if she would die of old age before he finished reaching his majority? Those were my first thoughts. They were wrong. _I_ was wrong. Princess Serenity is as worthy as any woman of our courts - moreso, even, for the Silver Millennium has existed in peace for longer than I have been alive. It is easy to say we would fight for our people. You and your princess have shed blood for yours. What does it matter that Endymion will live longer, that he _has_ lived longer, when she is the one his eyes shine for?”

It was the most words she had ever heard him say, and he was not finished. She listened as if spellbound. Her heart ached. 

“I understand why Beryl does not approve, and why others do not, will not, but I do not share their beliefs. Endymion has given her his heart - he will love her not until she dies, but until he does. I cannot even pity him for the pain he’ll surely feel when it is so clearly what he wants.”

There were tears in his eyes. She wondered, in the part of her that was not focused on blinking back her own, if he had even noticed. 

It wasn’t as though she hadn’t considered the idea, the thought of Endymion’s widowing - but it had been distant, academic, as all thoughts of Serenity’s death by age were, because Serenity was young still and she would be young for years to come, and when she died, Makoto would - 

When she died, Makoto would be dead of her duties by then, or not long to follow, with the age her princess could live to, with the comfort of luxury and the power of the Golden Crystal at her fingertips. She could not mourn Serenity when she knew, had always known, that her death would by necessity come before her princess’ own. 

Endymion’s would not. He was no man of Earth, blessed to be gifted a generous eight decades. His people could live more than eight centuries with ease; she had been told so by one of his own guards. Serenity’s end would not be his own. Without some tragic, horrific incident, it would not even be close. 

She wondered if he was already committing every moment to memory and was already mourning every day that passed.

She wondered if they all were. 

It was not as though there weren’t loves marred by tragedy on Earth. There were people who lost loved ones, there were parents who outlived children and soldiers that never came home. There were the mountains that fell without warning and the earth that heaved beneath unwary feet and the oceans that rose with vicious storms to sweep away without hesitation all who lived at the unlucky shore. There was illness, and there was injury, and there was unexpected loss.

But she did not know of anyone who had ever found love, and married, and known for certain fact that they would, in the very best of all worlds, spend most of their life widowed.

There were no flippant promises or even heartfelt words she could offer to lift the sting. Endymion would spend most of his life in mourning, and even when he was not struck through with grief, there would always be the melancholy twist of loss when he thought of his wife, his marriage. Kunzite knew his prince better than any other, just as she knew her princess. If he said, as he had, that Endymion would always mourn - 

It was what her princess deserved, what love demanded, but it was a high price. For the first time, she thought it was Serenity who was the lucky one. 

🌏🌹🌕

Quiet fell between them, after. 

Kunzite was grateful for it. He needed the silence, to put himself back together, to brush away those errant tears, to rebuild the stoic calm that was so essential to his being. Every word he had spoken was true, and so every word had been torn from his heart, without measure, without calculation. 

It was only that she had asked, and so he answered. He answered because her face was an open window into her heart, and her affection had been a flower in the unprotected wilds, falling from full bloom to wilting death with every stretching second. 

How would she look at him, if he said nothing? What emotion would she paint across the canvas, for him to see and know?

She was so, so straightforward, Makoto. He hadn't realized he'd come to rely on it. Hadn't realized that he'd come to like it. Her. 

When had he come to like her? 

How could he let this happen? How could he let _this_ of all things happen?

They rowed across the lake in that silence, and only the skiffs cutting through the water, the paddles sliding against the tops of the skiffs, and their giggling, flirting charges the only sounds to break the quiet, and Kunzite thought to himself, and he thought, and he thought, turning it over in his mind again and again as if leafing through a book, as if he by turning enough mental pages he could find the answer and be able to put the feeling away. 

It was not so simple as attraction - of course not. Of course it couldn't be something as simple and straightforward as attraction. He could have ignored attraction, could have ignored temptation. 

Attraction was a base thing, a reaction of the body, of seeing features arranged in a pleasing form and admiring them, wanting them. Attraction was a desire, like the desire for food, for sleep, for shelter, but so much more manageable, because a body did not require _release_ to function, not like it did the rest. 

So he would have preferred it was attraction. Would have preferred - as he rowed and she rowed and they rowed together, trapped in their close quarters and their continual movements - that it was only that his eyes wanted to linger on her breasts, that his hands wanted to touch her skin, that his lips wanted to meet hers. If that had been all, he would have no trouble at all, because what were the wants of the flesh compared to the duty of the soul?

But it was not only attraction, and the revelation of that was unfolding in real time, in the way his eyes tried to stray to her face whenever his eyes swept across the lake, whenever he had to look from his prince. In the way his ears strained, not for warning of danger, but in hope of catching her voice. In the way his mind whirled, dwelling on their conversation, on this and the memory of every other conversation. He'd never in all his life felt so distracted. 

It had to stop. 

He had to stop.

Affection was not on the playing board. Affection was not a piece he'd prepared to barter with. Affection was not supposed to _happen_ to him, it was not -

She would die. 

She would _die_ , what was he thinking, what was he doing? He couldn't think of it, he couldn't dream of it - not when she was human, not when he had just now, _just moments ago_ , described the fate that awaited Endymion at the end of all this. It didn't matter that she was calming to exist with, it didn't matter that she matched wits with him, it didn't matter that she shared his distaste for the theater of politics or his devotion to the only cause worth sacrificing for, that she was honest and loyal and courageous and sentimental and sweet and brutally willing to cut all of that out of herself when Serenity's needs called for it. 

She would die, and if he ever let this affection grow, a part of him would die with her, a part that he might never be able to reclaim, and he could not put himself in that position. 

He would not put himself in that position. 

Surely, it could be that simple. 

He had almost convinced himself of that when the skiff ahead of them rocked with a sudden, sharp motion, even worse than those that had come before, and before he could do anything besides grip his paddles and _shove forward_ with all his might, the craft flipped. 

With the prince and princess still inside it. 

Makoto leapt to her feet, their skiff rocking and shifting wildly under them with the suddenness of it, and then she was gone, leapt into the water after them. He followed at her heels, and as his feet flew from the surface, their craft flipped, too.

Kunzite paid it no more mind - damn the skiff and anything, everything, else when his prince was at risk -

But even as he blinked and strained his eyes in the dark water, he became aware of kicking and splashing above him, churning at the surface of the water, and he kicked up, to the side of the toppled royal skiff, and was grateful beyond measure to see the three of them clinging safely to the rounded bottom of the skiff, now pointing up to the sky. They were breathing heavily, all of them, and both Endymion and Makoto had an arm firmly wrapped around Princess Serenity, whose uniform had been swapped for the long skirts and many layers of a lady and who was thus entirely unprepared for the cold and clinging weight of the lake water.

She was laughing though, the Earth's princess, unphased by the dunking she'd taken. "I can't believe it! We actually fell in!"

"We actually fell in," Endymion echoed, a disbelieving laugh softening his words.

"You _both_ fell in," was Makoto's input, her head shaking. Kunzite could see that her fingertips were white where they squeezed Serenity and the pale bone of her knuckles showed through as well. She'd captured her princess in a death grip, and her relieved smile was more a baring of teeth. In it, he read, _I will go down before I let you drown_ , and paddled to their side, bolstering Endymion so that his own heavy clothing didn't weigh him down. 

"Are you all alright?!" another voice demanded, the splashing of water distorting the sound enough that for a moment he could not place it. Seconds later, he felt that same water shift and part around them, and there was the disorienting sensation of being lifted in the air without being touched. Kunzite reached out for Endymion on instinct and slapped his hand against a sloping wall of water, and he realized that he was caught in a bubble. 

Only the control drilled in by long years of training stopped him from calling down the power of Mars. His instincts demanded he bind and drain, use darkness to sap away whatever energy Ami (that was who it was, his mind placing her given a moment to think) was using to capture them, but he resisted. This didn’t feel like a trap.

“How dare you!” Beryl’s strident voice echoed like the crack and boom of a slamming door, the ring of it distorted by the water surrounding them. He could breathe, Kunzite realized, abstract. He was in a bubble, but he could breathe. Despite the water, there was a bubble of air surrounding his head, keeping nose and mouth, eyes and ears clear. The world was distorted by water, but he was not drowning. “Release them at once!”

“I will do just that in a moment,” Ami bit out, and if Beryl’s voice was distorted, hers was little more than a slur of sound, too quiet to travel through the water to his ears intact. He was guessing at her words, grasping at the sound.

The water around them was whirling and shifting, the upturned skiffs caught in her conjured tide. As he watched, the slapping waves flipped the two vessels upright, the water that should have rightfully filled them pouring over the sides in two gentle streams.

“Do it now,” Beryl demanded, and he saw that she was staring not at the magic being worked on the skiffs, but at Ami, whose gloved hands were stretched towards the water. He couldn’t even be sure that she’d noticed it, unfocused as she was on the Earth doctor. 

She pointed at them, the four of them caught in bubbles, and he heard her bark, “Now!” even as he forced his hand through the wall of the bubble and snapped for her attention.

It was unnecessary.

Seconds later, they were being set down - first the two royals on their right skiff, and then he and Makoto on theirs. The water sluiced away from them once they were settled, leaving clothes, skin, and hair dry, their soaking only a damp memory. Endymion clutched at Serenity with all his might the second he was able, and she held him in return.

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” she was gasping. “It’s only Ami - “

Only Ami she said, as if that explained the magic. 

Kunzite shook his head, ran a hand through bone-dry hair that should have been dripping wet, and tried to recapture control of his thoughts. Too much had happened, too quickly, and he needed to be on top of this.

“Could she always do that?” his prince was asking, entirely too much awe in his voice. 

Of course he was awed. Magic. That had been _magic_ lifting them into the air. 

Magic, which the Earth was most certainly _not_ meant to have. His eyes flicked to Makoto, leaning over the edge of their skiff, a fist planted on her hip, a foot planted on the prow. She was speaking, an edge to her voice that spoke of withheld power. 

“Ami is not yours to command, _Lady Beryl_ , and neither is she a dog for you to bark orders at. What she was doing is lifting _far_ more fingers to help your prince than you did. On Earth, we would offer thanks."

"I don't require thanks," Ami said quickly, before Beryl, red-faced and tight-lipped, could speak. "It was a simple calculation. The two of us, seated in our skiffs, would not have been able to overturn the other crafts or steady them enough for one of you to climb in and lift the princess out without falling in ourselves. Prince Endymion, Kunzite, I apologize for any discomfort. I thought it better that you be settled than that I allow you to struggle for the sake of pride."

"You _captured_ our prince and the head of his guard with your forbidden magics!" Beryl was standing as well - the skiff under her was perfectly still, no doubt captured in a brief stasis. The guardian of Pluto could not stop time without violating the grand taboo, but she could certainly pull off something close. 

Makoto’s already taut shoulders stiffened further. The two women were nearly of equal height, but the tilt of her head and her sharp glare highlighted the difference between them. It was undeniable that Serenity's general was looking down at Beryl.

"She was helping -!"

Luckily, a softer, more inquisitive voice interrupted the confrontation before it could build to a head."Forbidden magics?"

It was Serenity, of course. The Princess of Earth had freed herself from Endymion's embrace, though the prince's hands still held to one arm and shoulder - bracing her, or perhaps just himself - as they stood together on their skiff. It rocked warningly beneath them. 

"I don't know what you're talking about when you say forbidden magics, but I think we'd have a better chance of avoiding another dunking if we waited until we were on dry land - or at least until we are all sitting down."

"Serenity is right," Endymion agreed quickly. His mouth was a thin line, his brows brought together in a tight steeple. "We can talk about it on dry land. Thank you, Lady Ami for your assistance. Without it, I'm sure the cold and wet would have left us all in a much worse state."

There was no way to prolong the argument after that, not without looking petulant, and they all knew it. After one last cold look in Beryl's direction, Makoto reclaimed her seat and her paddles, holding them in tightly clenched fists. Kunzite followed suit, and Beryl herself sat with a haughty sniff. Ami, who had remained seated all the while, did nothing more than dip her head in silent acknowledgement. 

They rowed in silence for a while, the heavy tension only growing as they came into clear view of land. The romantic mood that had been so carefully planned was ruined. 

Despite that, and against his better wishes, Kunzite spoke. His tone should have been chill, stern. It should have sounded like an interrogation, should have _been_ an interrogation about what he’d seen.

It did not.

“She was using magic.”

The implied question was unmistakable and yet Makoto only stared back at him, her usually expressive face impassive. 

He had no choice but the press on.

“Can you wield it too?”

Again, the silence. Again, the impassive stare. 

He would have no choice but to be blunt, that much was clear. He frowned, an involuntary but all too honest expression of his thoughts, and Makoto sighed. 

“I can. I’ve been able to all this time, and I haven’t. Is that what you wanted to know?”

 _No_ , he thought to himself, _where did you learn to -_

"Yes," his treacherous mouth said, and the worst thing was that it wasn't lying. That he wasn't lying. The source of that magic, the scope of her power, that should have been what he was concerned about, that and knowing how _many_ Terrans - Earthlings - could use magic, how widespread the power was. All of which were things he needed to know, and all of which would be…. 

...explained in good time. Princess Serenity's confusion, Prince Endymion's surprise - he trusted them to be real. However the people of Earth had gained access to magic, it wasn’t and couldn’t be as dangerous an affair as they expected. The question that had burned in his heart was _could she do this to? Has she been hiding it all along?_ And her answer should have made the burn harsher, the fact that she’d so calmly admitted the truth, but there was peace instead. He had asked and she had answered. There was an explanation for what he'd seen, and it would come to him soon; he had no reason to doubt that, and so he didn't. 

A grim part of him knew that a year ago he would have. 

A year ago he would have not held back the instinct to drain away the foreign energy. He would have stood at Beryl's side and demanded answers for the magic he'd just seen, demanded retribution for the weapon the Earthlings - the _Terrans_ , he would have called them - had been hiding from their notice. Between this year and the last, he’d changed, and she was the only one he could blame. 

"They fell in together," he said, rather than let those pensive thoughts spill out. "I suppose we'll each have to ask the other for dance."

Her face - Makoto's face - brightened. His treacherous heart softened. "I suppose we shall."


	5. Act 5

The Lunar Ball was held once a decade, the Moon Kingdom’s principle celebration - a masquerade ball that encompassed the entire capital city, spilling from the grand palace at its heart to the farthest reaches of the dome. Music would fill the city - music and dancers, and most importantly, the royal families of every planet in the Sol system and any guests from outside of the system too. They would gather and reaffirm their alliances, their bond of both personal and political friendship, and share a dance as a show of trust. 

In all those decades, in century after century, the Earth had never once received - and thus never once accepted - an invitation. 

Until now, at least.

They had known for months this day was coming, and held the invitation in their hands for weeks, but now that the day was no longer arriving but here, it was as though all the nerves, frustration, and justifiable paranoia they'd talk themselves in circles over had simply melted away. 

There was only room for excitement, now. 

“And you’re absolutely certain my mother won’t accept my being just a little late getting back?” Serenity whispered, close enough that her breath tickled against Makoto’s bare shoulder alongside the delicate feathers of her white rabbit mask. Her smile was an audible thing.

“I am absolutely certain,” Makoto whispered back, and pretended she couldn’t hear Ami stifling giggles and Rei swallowing a sigh. Minako made no effort to hide her own laughter, never mind that she of all of them shouldn’t have been able to hear them at all, walking point as she was.

Were they anywhere but the Moon, Makoto would have scolded the lot of them for wasting magic on something as petty as eavesdropping. 

“The queen mother would not only not accept, she would most certainly take the time out of your next visit,” Rei said dryly, abandoning the illusion that she  _ wasn't _ listening in. She walked at the back of their formation and it was fortunate that they had been friends for so long - Makoto didn’t have to look back to guess at the look on her face, the violet eyes that would be rolling, the smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. The crafting of her mask contained nothing so delicate and soft as Serenity’s, all finely crafted metals that melded into the shape of butterfly's wing to cover the right side of her face, and yet Makoto  _ knew _ that smirk would be completely visible.

“An hour stolen for every minute you were late, I imagine,” Ami concurred, and her teasing smile was all that  _ could _ be seen of her face, the pale and deep blues of her ceramic mask shaped into wave-like tendrils and frills. She walked on Serenity’s other side, closing off their right flank. 

“Maybe we  _ should _ let her come home late then,” Minako pondered, her arms crossed behind her head, the golden chains and bracelets decorating her arms glittering in the light of the city and the stars far above. “Just imagine what the added time away would do to all that simmering tension -” 

“Minako!” Serenity squeaked, and the sound was so much more appropriate for the mask than the woman who wore it that they couldn’t help but laugh, every glance at their princess, in her white-feathered mask with its delicately shaped bunny ears and little black nose setting them off all over again.

“Ah, Serenity, never change.” 

Minako wiped a nonexistent tear from her face, still laughing. Her mask was striking in its simplicity, a black domino mask brought to vivid life by the gold filigree that covered the left eye and snaked in dancing patterns across the upper third of the right as well. Her floor-length dress was eye-catching, with its strapless, plunging neckline, the thin leather of her bodice molded to the supple shape of her cleavage and the line of her spine, satin skirt falling to her toes. Golden chains from the top of the bodice circled her upper arms, draped halfway to her elbows. It straddled the line between scandalous and sensual, and between the mask and dress, the red paint drawing the eye to her lips, and the long fall of her golden hair, she made for a brilliant figure. 

They all did, really. 

Serenity seemed dainty, almost fragile in her delicate white silk ballgown, hair pulled from its customary style into a braided half-updo that left blond hair spilling all the way down her back, while Ami drew the illusion of height from a high-necked powder blue shirt with draping sleeves that buttoned at the wrist, the straight lines of cloth drawing the eye towards the strong set of her shoulders and the high-waist of her pants drawing focus to her naturally trim waist. The spruce short jacket draped over one shoulder only added to the silhouette. 

Makoto and Rei were themselves a contrast as well, tight and loose reversed in their attire as it was. Makoto’s uniform had been exchanged for a forest green off-the-shoulder trumpet gown which tight bodice emphasized the cinch of her waist and the size of her bust, silver sequins catching the light like thousands of tiny stars. The hem of her skirt should have brushed across the floor, but the sequins had been crafted from metals mined in Minako's own home territory, and a touch of her faintly gleaming hand had been enough to ensure they would not dare allow the fabric to be sullied. Rei's ash-grey shirt was loose, the fabric draped and folded in such a way that the deep, broad v would have surely bared her left breast were it not for the fit of the sleeveless red shirt underneath it. High waisted black pants only emphasized the looseness of the shirt, drawing attention to the broadness of her torso, the narrowness of her hips.

Each outfit was unique, catered to each woman just as the masks themselves were, which was the intent. No solid conclusions, even innocent ones, could be gathered about the Earth from their presentation. No one would say that the women of Earth were like this or that, and hopefully, no one would spare a thought to the  _ magic  _ of Earth either, at least for one night.

"You only say that because no one else falls for your teasing like I do," Serenity griped.

It was a ridiculous accusation, and Rei was the one to laugh first, a sharp and crackling sound, the gradual destruction of a log sacrificed to a merry fire. "Everyone falls for it. You're just the only one with anything  _ exciting  _ to tease about. Have you settled on a date yet?"

The non sequitur was a knife, deftly thrown to an exposed weakness, or it would have been if this were ten years before, and they were still learning about each other. Now the bite of Rei's tongue drew exasperated sighs rather than blood, and the three of them hid smiles. 

"It would be next week if it were up to our dearest," MinerVa laughed, and Serenity sputtered. 

"You pay too little credence to her impatience," Ami disagreed primly, her lips pressed into the smallest of mischievous smiles. "Were it her choice it would be set for the morning."

"You're being unkind," Makoto scolded them lightly, hiding her smile. She could see her princess puffing up, smug and pleased with someone at her side, and her tone was sly as she continued. "Were it her choice, this ball would be the reception and the wedding over and done with."

"I've been betrayed by everyone I love," Serenity lamented, and Makoto would have spared a smidgen of sympathy had she not been struggling to hide a smile of her own. "You are, all of you, the worst."

"Then just for tonight, let's be the absolute worst."

🌏🌹🌕

For all the warmth and laughter in their hearts, arriving at the Lunar Palace was an ordeal in and of itself. All their previous visits had been with the escort of the Moon’s own prince and at least one of his personal guardians, and all had taken place at times and on dates when the courts were not in session. This meant that on those perfectly average days that visits were scheduled, it was a quick and easy thing to arrange for entrance. 

But tonight, though the courts were not in session, the day was anything but average. With the city revelling and all the system's highest figures in attendance, security was tight, and all eyes were on each guest as they entered the palace, announced by name, title, and planet of origin. 

There would be no hiding that they were from Earth. There would be no pretending to be anything but Serenity's guardians. 

And who knew how many people had been informed of their magic. 

Makoto did her best to hide her concerns, but she  _ was  _ worried, and she was certain that the others could see through her as easily as she saw through them. Only Serenity, who now stood with all the cool, collected poise her mother so easily embodied seemed truly at ease. Why wouldn't she? Serenity was in love, and she truly believed that her love would do her no harm. 

Makoto wanted to believe that, too. 

"No wonder they only host this party once a decade," Rei muttered quietly, voice low enough that only the five of them could hear. "I've seen stampedes more orderly."

"Well, I've never seen a stampede so quiet; they're doing something right," Ami pointed out, just as quiet. She was looking out at the crowd, which truly wasn't as untamed as Rei implied. All the guests were more or less gathered in a pair of lines, allowing two flows of entry into the grand Lunar Palace. They were separated by a wide space, filled with pale moonflowers, grown to bloom for this one night, and carefully lined benches meant for those who could not stand or merely found they didn't care for it. 

The people were quiet, as quiet as a large gathering of people speaking in quiet voices could be, and they were more or less orderly.

It was only that they'd stood in line for some half an hour, easily, and while their shoes were all practical things, intended to be stood and walked and danced in for many hours, it was terribly boring.

"Maybe we've just grown spoiled," Minako hummed, leaning casually against Makoto. "There are few who would dare to make  _ us  _ wait so long at home."

"There are few who we would make wait," Makoto put in wryly, and shook her head. "It doesn't matter, does it? They aren't singling us out - all of us are waiting, regardless of planet or position."

It was nice, actually - the egalitarianism of it, not the waiting. It was the first sign she'd seen that Lunar society was not so concerned with appearance and status as they first seemed. 

"Serenity, there you are!"

And so of course the world had sent Prince Endymion himself to prove her wrong. 

"Endymion! I thought we wouldn't see one another until I'd made it inside!" Serenity caught his outstretched hand with her own, cradling it gently as she brought it to her lips. Makoto looked away, offering the scant illusion of privacy on her own end at least, taking in the sight of their new company instead. 

Endymion had retained his signature black and red, but his clothing little resembled his usual attire. His knee-length black tunic was heavily embroidered with gold-flecked silver thread and red roses, and it took a moment for Makoto to realize that it was a star chart of sorts, the roses indicating planets and regions of concentrated gold flecks indicating individual stars. The tunic split at the waist, revealing equally black pants, plain and without design. The legs of those pants fit into polished leather boots. 

Rather than don a mask, he’d chosen to wear a silver circlet, one that came together at a point just above the moon sigil on his forehead, lavender bangs falling over the band. His cheeks were flushed crimson at the public affection Serenity was offering, and Makoto turned her attention from him to the pair standing with him as he stammered to his bride to be. 

Of the prince’s four guardians, only Kunzite and Zoisite stood at his side, discreetly turning their gazes to give the couple the illusion of privacy as Makoto did. The two were a study in contrast, the one tall and dark, fair-haired, and the other slight and pale, bright hair shining orange in the light. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the four of you in one place,” Zoisite noted, red-painted mouth stretched in a smirk. 

He’d clearly dressed to capture the eye, and in some ways even outshone Prince Endymion - his floor length gown was a rippling affair, sparkling in the light cast by the Earth above. The bodice was a shade of purple lighter than Kunzite’s choice, reminiscent of the night sky and gleaming with sparkling silver stars. The layers of the skirt were all a pale blue until just past the knee, where the uppermost layer alone darkened to match the bodice, those same silver stars ensuring the sparkle and gleam of the outfit flowed from head to toe. It all contrasted brilliantly with his strawberry blond hair, pulled back into a curly wave. 

“We’ve yet to see the four of you in the same place,” Makoto replied dryly. She couldn’t help but let her gaze trail over his form, longer than was necessary, perhaps - she’d lived with access to luxury for much of her life, and was more than confident in her own body, but it was  _ remarkable  _ how well he pulled off such a low-cut bodice given that he was flatter than her own sword. 

Judging by the way Ami couldn’t quite look away, she wasn’t the only one noticing. 

“You’re sure to do so before the night is over,” Kunzite’s quiet voice promised, and she looked up - avoiding the wide, wide stretch of Zoisite’ smirk; he’d definitely noticed her staring - to meet his gaze.

Unlike his prince, Kunzite's clothing was simple - a formal jacket and pants in a shade of purple so dark one could easily mistake it for black, and a white shirt underneath, his bowtie a shade of red so pale it was more rightly called pink. His silver hair had been pulled back and gathered into a single low tail. He was unsmiling, but that was fine - she could see in his eyes that he was pleased.

Eyes that were slightly hidden, for the night - Kunzite and Zoisite wore masks, the two of them keeping with the tradition their prince had chosen to shirk. Kunzite’s was a simple domino mask, the same deep purple of his suit, and Zoisite’ the pale shade of blue that dominated the skirts of his dress, three silver stars in the corner above each eye. 

“You left your other halves to keep an eye on things?” Minako asked, eyes glittering with mischief that didn’t quite hide the steel in her gaze.

“Jadeite and Nephrite are still on the dance floor, but our dear prince was getting impatient, waiting for the only one of the beautiful people gathered here he actually cares to see,” Zoisite answered dryly. 

His voice was quiet, Makoto couldn’t help but notice, meant for their ears only and not those of the other  _ beautiful  _ people gathered around them, who might hear and take offense. 

Wise, maybe, but she couldn’t help but wonder how he really felt. She didn’t have to imagine her own take on the situation - there had been more than one occasion where Serenity had tried (and even succeeded) in skipping out on her duties for the sake of spending another moment with Endymion. She hoped that they’d calm down when they were married and the chance to see each other was no longer a treat, a special occasion to long for.

Endymion huffed. Though Serenity still held his hand, he’d regained enough sense of himself to have heard his guardian’s remarks, and a pout twisted his lips.

It wasn’t an altogether princely expression.

“Of course I care to see all the other guests,” he lied, and Makoto didn’t even have to feel bad for thinking it a lie - she could see the way Zoisite and Kunzite simply stared at him, silently unimpressed, and knew they were as unconvinced as she was. “But I don’t see Serenity -”

“I’m sure you see Her Highness more often than you see the Uranian royal family,” Rei said dryly, a hint of challenge buried in the words. 

The lunar prince didn’t take her up on it, slumping instead with a defeated exhale and rueful smile. “Well. You may be correct there.”

“Is there any shame in loving one’s betrothed?” Serenity challenged, but lightly, “I’m sure if Endymion were marrying into the Uranian royal family he would be more excited to see them.”

“Oh I don’t know about that,” Endymion said, speaking at the same moment that Charaon snorted, and Zoisite said, “Oh, he absolutely wouldn’t be.”

“It sounds like there’s a story there,” Ami noted leadingly. For all that they’d been joined by the Moon’s own prince, the line hadn’t moved at all. In fact, Makoto couldn’t be entirely sure that it had even been noticed that the prince had joined them. It wasn’t the favorable treatment she’d half-feared, and it allowed her to relax. 

“There really isn’t -” Endymion started to say, only to be cut off as Zoisite put a hand to his shoulder and shook his head. The lunar prince sighed and fell sullenly silent. 

“It is a long and hallowed tale, one that began when Endymion was a prince only as high as my knee,” the Mercurian announced gravely, putting on a serious face. “Fortunately, death itself may come to us before this line moves, and so we have plenty of time.”

“We’re not going to be here for more than half an hour,” Kunzite said lightly, and Makoto could have sworn he rolled his eyes behind his mask.

She smiled. 

“Would you care to lose another bet on that?”

She didn’t have to swear on the existence of the smile that creased his lips. “We tied on that bet.”

“A tie, a mutual loss, I’m not hearing a  _ no _ .”

🌏🌹🌕

One story turned to two, and then three, and then many more, the eight of them talking and laughing, listening and walking, inching their way through the line until they had finally reached the end. They were announced, one after the other, their titles turning heads for a moment - Princess Serenity of the Golden Kingdom and her guardians.

Earth had gone unsaid, the Lunar preference for Terra given full endorsement instead. Makoto had breathed through her irritation at it, reminding herself that the Moon’s people had had centuries to get used to the wrong name and would not correct it so quickly, and was rewarded for her patience. Those heads which turned to stare did so without being followed by wagging tongues, and none of those faces were colored with alarm. At an event so prestigious, even the first appearance of the Earth’s representatives could not hold their attention for long, at least while Earth's magic was still a secret.

The Lunar Ball was not about _ them _ .

Every guest, be they of a ruling dynasty or a simple servant, viewed this night as an opportunity, a chance to forge new connections and make powerful friends. The Earth, preemptively dismissed as backwater and naive, wasn’t factored into that equation.

Not for the first time, Makoto was grateful that the betrothal was still a close-kept secret, and that few were aware of the negotiations surrounding Prince Endymion’s eventual nuptials or the importance her own Serenity would soon have. No one considered kissing up to Serenity, and though Endymion did eventually have to leave her side, the five of them were in place in the central ballroom when he did, Makoto and Rei at Serenity’s side. Minako and Ami slipped into the crowd to keep watch for signs of danger and listen to the gossip.

"We're going to have a good time tonight," Serenity told them sternly, her blue eyes focused on the glass in her hand. It was a drink they'd had before, on prior visits to the Moon, but not often enough for any of them to have gotten used to the taste. It wasn't like arak, so strong it was meant to be mixed with water before it could be drunk, nor did it have the dry sweetness of wine. No, lunar spirits were exactly as the name conjured - a ghostly, ill-defined flavor that disappeared from the tongue before it could be categorized. It was sweet, but even that was vague - it wasn't the simplicity of sugar or the bite of citrus, nor was it the mouth-coating richness of chocolate. 

It was sweet, the fleeting impression of something vaguely pleasant, and one could easily find themselves drinking flute after flute of the light, bubbly drink without realizing it, chasing the flavor in fruitless hope of identifying it.

Makoto had tried it, once. The spirits weren't strong enough to get a person properly drunk or even more than moderately tipsy. It was too delicate. too dainty for that. Most lunar food was like that - an impression rather than full sensation.

Hopefully the other planets offered better fare, or they would all be returning to the Earth hungry. 

"We most certainly will, with our infant’s liquor and sentiment-flavored hors d'oeuvres," Rei muttered, just loudly enough for the three of them alone to hear, and Makoto snorted, nearly inhaling her own flute of drink.

" _ Rei, _ " Serenity hissed, but her cheeks had puffed with a badly hidden smile. "A good time, I said!"

"I am having a good time. I love the guarantee that I can't get smashingly drunk and embarrass myself at an important event."

"Stop saying mean things like compliments!"

"It's not mean if it's the truth. The last time he was on Earth, Nephrite offered me a diamond necklace in exchange for two caskets of wine, he was so desperate for something with proper flavor after visiting with us."

"Did you take him up on it?" Makoto asked, curious in spite of herself. She was keeping an eye on those around them, but no one seemed to be paying attention to their conversation. 

"I made him give me three," Rei said smugly, a smirk on her painted lips. 

"Three of them? Three diamond necklaces for a couple of casks of wine?" Serenity was horrified, and were they in less proper company, Makoto might have whistled herself at that sort of price gouging. 

"It rains diamonds on Neptune," Rei said, unapologetic. "Or so I've heard. He accepted, that's what matters."

"He's from Jupiter." Serenity's  _ you know this  _ went unsaid.

"And between the two of us, he'll be the first to make a trip to Neptune for more. My point was there's no need to pretend this drink will be more than a disappointment. You would have snuck in a bottle of arak if you had a place to hide it in that dress."

The words were matter of fact, offered with the steady patience of the lava's flow, well aware that only crashing into the sea could put a halt to it, and Serenity was many wonderful things, but she was not the sea.

"...maybe I would have," Serenity admitted, mouth downturned. "But I didn't try, which should count for something, like say, a kind word from a dear friend."

"Oh, it should count? Wonderful, I don't need to say anything then."

And then the two of them were laughing, Serenity clutching her flute of spirits to avoid spilling it, Rei raising her free hand to her mouth to hide the smile her mask didn't cover. Makoto shook her head at the both of them, long used to their habits. 

"Feeling more relaxed?" she asked once the laughter had died to giggles and she felt more confident she would get an answer.

Serenity looked back at the many, many people around them, some sitting, some standing, none yet dancing, and confessed, "Much more. I know that we talked and talked about this night, but now that it's here - the only part of I can see going well is dancing with Endymion. I definitely can't mess that up. But the rest? I've never been good at networking, and that's all this night is for ‐ a chance at networking that won't come for another ten years - and instead of using it, I have you two clustered around a table in the corner with me."

Rei shook her head, knocking back her flute of lunar spirits in a single swallow. She tapped the rim of the empty glass against their table, the soft cloth covering it dulling the clink of glass - crystal? - on wood. "First of all, you're ignoring the very real fact that being here instead of in the middle of that crowd is exactly where I'd prefer to be. Secondly, the fact that this is an event for networking is exactly why you shouldn't be getting in the middle of it. A marriage alliance with the Moon Kingdom is one thing, but attempting to single-handedly manage Earth's relations with the rest of the galaxy after centuries of our planet being more or less ignored would be an overreach no other power on Earth would forgive."

"And even if none of that were true, we would still be encouraging you to put your comfort first," Makoto said bluntly. She rested an elbow on their table, leaning closer to her companions. You're here to dance with Endymion. We're here to protect you -"

"And also to dance with Endymion's guardians?" her princess asked, a little mirth in her eyes. Her face was still drawn, her brows tight with concern, but given their surroundings, Makoto would take it. It was true, anyway. She sighed, pretending dissatisfaction.

"That too. I still don't believe it's an actual rule that the royal heir and their guardians  _ have _ to open the dance floor."

"Because it really is asking so very much of you to  _ have  _ to dance with Kunzite." Rei smirked. "That objection would be better suited coming from me, or Ami, or even Minako than it does you."

Heat washed over Makoto's cheeks, a telling sign of the blush reddening her face at that very moment. 

She opened her mouth to respond and caught sight of dark fabric moving towards them, the ripple of bodies moving quickly aside, parting to make a path for Endymion, already making his way back to them with Kunzite at his right side. 

"Serenity," Makoto said instead of shooting back a retort, "look behind you."

Confusion flashed over Serenity's face, but she looked over her shoulder anyway. Infectious joy sparked a smile, and her steps to meet him bounced, suiting the rabbit theme of her mask. Once again, the Lunar Prince offered his hand to her. Once again, she brought it to her lips for a kiss.

It was unfair that it was just as romantic a second time. 

"Makoto," Kunzite called in a quiet greeting, as if they had not separated at best only twenty minutes before. She stared at him, confusion evident, as he approached, and offered a polite bow. A small smile softened the strict lines of his face. "Would you join me for a dance?"

The words sounded so natural in his voice that she almost forgot about the bet and their tie. She swallowed, looking past him to her princess, standing closer than was polite at an event like this, beaming up at Endymion as she held his hand. Rei stood at her side, composed, collected. 

Then she tilted her head to look directly at Makoto and raised a single brow in a wordless challenge. 

"Of course I will, " she said firmly, and then, catching herself, "I would be delighted."

Kunzite's small smile had not disappeared, but his words may have. It was alright - the faint dip of his head and that smile communicated enough of his feelings. They walked together through the crowd and to the front of the ballroom, where Endymion's royal mother stood upon a dais. 

He took a place at her side, and Kunzite slipped away from Makoto to follow him, as she herself stepped to Serenity's side. 

They'd discussed this too, in the conversations the subject of this ball had consumed. The ball would open with mingling and food, time for all those interested in arriving on time to be announced and granted entrance. When that was settled, first Endmyion's mother and then Endymion himself would give speeches formally welcoming their guests and praising their allies for another decade of loyalty. After would be a toast - and then, the opening dance, which this year would honor the invitation of the Earth to these proceedings by welcoming Princess Serenity and her guardians to dance with Prince Endymion and his guardians. 

The whisper of gliding cloth caught her ear, and Makoto tilted her head just slightly as Minako emerged from the crowd to stand beside her. Ami ghosted from amidst the guests as well, settling herself at Serenity’s side just behind Rei. 

“Well?” she asked, quiet enough that the Queen’s projecting voice could still be easily heard. Her lips barely moved.

“It was what we expected to hear,” Minako replied, equally quiet, satisfaction curling her lips. “No one seemed to know more than they should, anyway. I’ll do another pass once everyone’s had more to drink, but hopefully that doesn’t change.”

But if it did, Minako would be in place to hear of it. 

That was her role in this, tonight. To hear the things that Serenity wouldn’t and to be in places Makoto and the rest couldn’t reach without making it clear what they were up to. Minako fit into this gathering in a way that the rest of them didn’t quite manage, from the style of her clothes to the manner that she’d adopted to carry herself, and it would mean that even though she’d been  _ announced  _ as Minako, Guardian of Serenity, few would remember that on taking a first look at her. They would see another beautiful woman seeking to build rapport, and feel kinship rather than the spark of warning. 

At least, that was their hope, anyway. Finding out that as far as the rest of their star system was concerned, the Earth wasn’t supposed to have magic - that it was  _ forbidden _ , as far as the Moon Kingdom was concerned..

To say it had been a surprise would have been like saying the ocean was a bit deep. 

“Are you still planning to confess to Kunzite tonight?” Minako asked suddenly. 

Makoto choked on her own saliva, squeezing her lips together to suppress the sound of her sudden coughing. Her wide eyes stared down at her companion, and she received an elbow to her gut - albeit a lightly jabbing one - for her trouble.

“I’ll take that as a yes, but remember we’re supposed to be pretending to pay attention,” Minako scolded, her pleasant smile stretched with mischief. 

“How did you know about that?” Makoto hissed the instant she was able. Her face was hot again, and she could only hope the flush would be blamed on the lighting. 

“You’ve been fidgeting from the moment you saw him, and it’s been just long enough since our little talk for you to have decided to act. Taking advantage of the romantic setting is a good idea for this sort of thing, but are you sure you want to commit to this? You can’t unring that bell if you aren’t well-received.”

Makoto exhaled, soft, steady. Her hands twitched, and her fingers curled, rubbing over the meat of her palms. She nodded. 

“I know. I’m okay with that. I’m not asking him for his hand in marriage - but I am going to ask if he thinks he might like me, enough to want to give it a try.”

“You might be better off not bothering, you know.”

The words were simple, matter of fact. Minako wasn’t even looking at her, when Makoto glanced down to check. Her eyes were fixed on the Moon’s queen, as she stepped down and allowed her son to take her place. 

“I know. It could make things awkward, it could create new tension, it could be a conflict of interests… I know. I want to do it anyway.”

“Good luck then.”

There were no more words to pass between them, after that. They stood and watched as Endymion ascended to the dais to take his mother’s place and listened to his speech, a sometimes-stumbling but largely sincere call to embrace one another, to listen and pay heed to one another. He offered a toast to another decade of peace, cooperation, and good will, with the promise that they would pop open even larger bottles at the next Lunar Ball. 

It was a good speech, but better still was the slow music that filled the air. 

Anticipation stirred in the crowd. It was finally time for the opening dance, and when this final formality was complete, the ball would have truly commenced. 

Makoto felt a flutter of nerves in the pit of her stomach as Serenity stepped forward and Endymion matched her. She, Minako, Ami, and Rei stepped forward only after Serenity had made two long strides. Across the dance floor, Kunzite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Jadeite matched them, trailing two strides behind Endymion. They moved together in perfect symmetry, until the four pairs had formed a diamond (a box, really, no matter what Kunzite insisted, it was clearly a box) around the center couple. 

Endymion bowed and Serenity dipped into a curtsy. They rose in sync, and with one hand each, cupped the back of the other’s shoulder, extending the other arm to clasp their remaining hands. 

A frame for the waltz.

Only when this was done did Serenity’s Shitennou and Endymion’s Senshi perform their own bows, their own curtsies. Come together in their own frames. 

The music came to its first swell, and the Princess of the Earth and Prince of the Moon began to dance. Again, following in the seconds after they had begun, their guardians followed suit.

And so they danced - Serenity and Endymion in their own world, eyes only for each other, following the steps of a simple and elegant dance, their guardians slowly circling them, their twirls, dips, and spins aligned so that they would move in sync with each other, but not the two royals. 

They had practiced this dance for the last month - for a couple of hours during both visits, but also on their own, back on Earth. It was necessary, not because it was a dance of grand complexity, but because though they had each had been trained to dance, their peoples had very different ideas of what that looked like. The traditional formal dances of the Golden Kingdom weren't pair dances - they were performed by groups, with at least eight present for the dance, four and four to dance separately and then together in turn. There was a great deal more stomping and kicking of feet, and their turns and twists weren't so slow, so gently swaying. This waltz, with its gentle sway and dips, its airy floats, its  _ paired _ nature, was as foreign to them as the Golden Kingdom's own style of dancing had been to Endymion and his Senshi.

Makoto wouldn't flatter herself by saying she'd mastered it, but as their steps wore on and she continued to follow Kunzite's lead, she felt she had certainly nailed it.

The music was what they had completed their formal practices to. The attire was similar to what they had worn then. The ballroom was even familiar. The nervous fluttering of her stomach had settled and left only calm satisfaction in its wake. She was glad that they would dance again, for their own sake and not on display for all to see. She was gladder still that when the music finally stopped and they stood in their original places once more, that not one of them had managed to embarrass themselves. 

Prince Endymion held Serenity's hand as he bowed to their audience, and she held his as she curtsied. Makoto and Kunzite followed suit, as did their fellow guardians, and finally came a polite clapping of hands, restrained, respectful. 

Makoto did not think she would ever stop silently asking the people of the Moon to lighten up.

Still, the moment was as good as it would ever be. The fluttering butterflies that had calmed over the course of the dance leapt back to full flight, twisting and turning in her stomach. It was silly that she was so nervous, and yet she was. 

"Kunzite," she said over the quiet din. "Would you speak with me, on the upper balcony?"

She gestured to the area she meant subtly, and waited with bated breath for him to respond. Her face, she was sure, must be an open book, her intentions plain for him to read. It would be easy enough for him to reject her now - she had known him long enough to be sure he would value efficiency over a social nicety like sparing her a rejection in front of an oblivious audience.

But he did not dismiss her out of hand, and he did not immediately speak either. He stared down at her, as if this were the first time they had laid eyes on one another (and here, she may have been projecting) and he wished to ensure he would not forget her face. 

"Yes," he answered simply, "I will speak with you."

They did not go immediately, and they did not go together. Before all else, they went back to their people - she to Serenity and then Minako, he to Endymion and then Nephrite. Makoto did not watch him - he had agreed to speak with her and so she knew he would. 

She focused instead on Serenity, offering teasing praise that she had not tripped or stumbled even once over the course of the dance; that had been Serenity's greatest fear. They spoke briefly, and then she allowed her princess to return to the place she truly wanted to be - in Endymion's arms. 

Well, at his side, which was close enough. With the nature of their burgeoning betrothal still a secret, propriety was something they both needed to mind. 

Only then did she seek out Minako. They did not exchange words - her intentions were written clear on her face and all that had to be said had been. She gestured only to the place where she would be, and Minako nodded, a sour twist to her lips. 

She didn't approve. She probably wouldn't ever, and Makoto couldn't blame her, not when it was well known that mixing business and pleasure lead to disaster. 

But for them, the chosen few who stood as Serenity's Shitennou, business was life. Any love, from any source, would always represent some shade of interference. At least another guardian should understand that Serenity would always be first in her heart. 

And if this confession went wrong, at least she would know. The path would be closed instead of unexplored and Makoto would have  _ no _ , rather than  _ what if _ ,  _ if only _ ,  _ in another life  _ -

What was the point in harboring and hiding feelings? What was the point of knowing how she felt if she didn't do anything about it?

No, this was best. Makoto would ask, and Kunzite - ever decisive, ever certain Kunzite - would answer. 

Resolve loosened her bones, brought a smile to her face. The hem of her dress brushed against her ankles and skirt as she crossed the ballroom. The balcony she'd chosen overlooked the main dance floor,and the path she walked now to get there allowed a mostly uninterrupted look at Serenity, dancing again, but with Nephrite rather than Endymion, Rei and Jadeite dancing close by. She could see Endymion dancing with a man she didn't recognize but whose elegant clothing hinted at Neptunian origins. Ami and Zoisite danced beside  _ him _ , the expressions on their faces better suited for a debate than a dance.

She stifled a laugh. Now there was a pair that couldn't exist in the same space without an argument. It was going to be fun, seeing how things worked out when a year hadn't been nearly enough time to brew anything beyond begrudging respect. 

Makoto was still smiling as she climbed the steps, warm from her head to her toes. It wasn’t that she wasn’t nervous - she was, a nervous fizz better appreciated in a fine bottle of sparkling wine than in her nerves - but her nervousness didn’t matter. Her fears, her worries, the voice in the back of her mind that agreed with Minako that this wasn’t worth doing, all of them could be ignored. 

She  _ was _ doing this. She  _ was  _ confessing. How Kunzite reacted, whether he returned her feelings, none of that was within her power. All she could do was be true to herself - be as honest about her feelings towards Kunzite as Serenity was with Endymion, as Ami was with Zoisite. 

If this turned out well, it would be about  _ them _ , her and Kunzite, a pair, a duo. But if it didn’t? It would have always been about her. 

That idea buoyed her as the din of the ball became quieter with distance, and the stairs leading to the balcony narrowed in submission to their ultimate destination. Ahead of her, loose curtains beckoned, white-embroidered white, gauzy material as ethereal as the rest of the Moon Kingdom's signature aesthetic. She couldn’t see Kunzite waiting for her, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there. 

(She made a bet to herself, a silent, silly one. If he wasn’t there, lurking in some corner in the hope of catching her off-guard, she would have to add an extra thirty minutes to her training sessions for the week.)

Makoto swept the gauzy curtains aside, the delicate material clinging for a moment to the warmth and heat of her flesh. Directly ahead of her was the railing, white stone carved with the cycle of the moon, from thinnest crescent to fullest moon. Down below were the attendees of the ball, and she could see Serenity and Endymion sharing a dance, just as she’d thought she’d be able to. 

Fabric swished in the left corner; Kunzite stepped forward from the shadows. There was a hint of curiosity in the angle of his brows, in the softness of his mouth. His eyes were cool in the warmth of the ballroom, their silver sheen pale under the glow of so much light. His mask couldn't hide that. 

“You wished to speak?”

“I did.”

And for a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity, she was silent. Makoto could only look at him, and back over the balcony. Endymion dipped Serenity backwards, supported her weight with nothing more than his arms and her faith. When he pulled her back up, it was with a spin that pulled her into his arms. 

Silly man. If he kept that up, there wouldn’t be a planet in the system unaware of his love. 

“I like you, Kunzite. A childish way to say it, maybe, but… I do. I don’t love you, not yet, but I could.” She looked up at him, at the surprise breaking over his face like the rising sun in the east, slow and undeniable. “I  _ could _ . I’d like to think you could too.”

“You… would?” Only two words, but the hesitation alone could have filled pages. He was looking at her. 

Makoto looked back. She did not falter. “I wouldn’t breathe a word of this to you if I didn’t think we could make something together. I won’t pretend we’re soulmates, some miracle romance waiting to happen. We aren’t. But - we’re two people with the same duty, with compatible goals, with mutual attraction to each other, and…”

She trailed off, warmth suffusing her face as she tried to translate her feelings into thoughts into words. 

“ _ I like you _ . I like the way you focus too much on the small details, I like the quiet of your humor, the intensity of your passion, the way you pinch your brows when Endymion suggests  _ another _ picnic, and the way you pretend you don’t love the rabbits as much as your prince. I like the way you scowl when someone doesn’t pick up the hint, the way you lurk in corners and the way you lie about it being about intimidation -”

“I don’t lie,” Kunzite said, and it was such a laughable thing to respond to that Makoto couldn’t help but giggle, a hand to her mouth as if that might hide it. 

“You do. You do, and no one - well, Endymion notices. Zoisite and Minako, too. I doubt there’s anything they don’t notice - but no one else. They look at your face, and most of them don’t see any of the signs…”

“But you do. Because you like me.” Flat tone, flat words. There was nothing to call it a challenge, and yet Makoto knew that’s what it was. 

“No. I see them because I pay attention,” and her hand fell, and her smile was still there. “Liking you just means I think it’s cute.” 

He didn’t blush. She didn’t think he would - he never had, in all the time they’d known each other, and she still thought that was a shame. She knew, knew, knew, that he would look as cute blushing over a compliment as he did lurking in corners. 

Her tone softened. “I understand if you don’t feel the same way. And as romantic as the atmosphere is, I do know this isn’t the ideal time and place for a moment like this. But I wanted to tell you. I didn’t want to go on keeping this to myself, pretending I want nothing more than your friendship and never breathing a word of what I really want."

And that, all of it, was the truth. The ultimate truth, laid out for him. She liked him, she thought about him, she wanted more than what she already had -

"You want what Serenity has," Kunzite said, and the words were an obvious stab in the dark. They lacked his usual surety, the limitless confidence he poured onto every other statement that passed his lips. 

It was easy for Makoto to shake her head, to raise a hand to her face and pull away the mask she'd nearly forgotten about, to ensure that there was nothing to disguise to disguise her sincerity. 

"I want what we could have. If I wanted a man who worshiped the ground I walk on or to be a woman who danced at the thought of my beloved, I'd have fallen for someone who didn't cringe at public displays of affection. What we do now, working together, planning together, guarding and defending together - that works for me. If we did that for all our days, they would be days well spent. I know this may seem sudden, and I know you'll want time to consider every risk and reward of this, but I only want to know - is there a chance that there could be a we and an us?"

Her words hung in the air. The musicians below had stopped their playing, the transition between songs giving weight to the atmosphere that hadn't been there before. 

Makoto looked at him, fingers pressed to the mask in her hands, lightly stroking the soft green and blue feathers.

Kunzite was not looking back. His eyes were fixed over the balcony. She knew he watched their charges, and she did not begrudge him it. She only waited. 

Waited. 

"It would never work," Kunzite said finally. He still refused to look at her and his jaw was clenched tight. She could imagine she could hear the squeak of protest whenever his mouth opened to speak. "Thank you for your candor -"

"Why wouldn't it work?" 

The words were out of her mouth before she could think them through, and yet of course she didn't regret them. How could she?  _ It would never work _ \- that was a denial, yes, and she had told herself she would accept a refusal, but she'd never considered that he would ever refuse her without even a mention of his own feelings, and she needed to know. She  _ wanted _ to know. 

"Is it not enough for me to say it would not work?" Kunzite snapped, voice as crisp and sharp as the bite of cold air atop a mountain, cutting deep into the soft, unprotected flush of warm lungs. It was a tone of frustration and intimidation, the voice of an unamused commander approaching anger, a sound of warning that urged caution. 

Makoto feared no man and she would heed no caution. Not now. Not about this.

"Not when you won't tell me why. Give me the words, Kunzite, and I will go. Tell me that it won't work because you don't feel as I do, and I  _ will _ walk away. But if you're not speaking of a matter of the heart -"

He looked at her now, his hands clenched tight upon the balcony rail, his jaw clenched tight, his very posture wound taut, a spring ready to snap. His silver eyes burned.

"When have our hearts ever mattered?  _ It would not work _ . You are bound to Serenity as I am to Endymion, and in the contest between love and duty, I must choose duty always. I had thought  _ you  _ of all people would understand."

She would have taken being slapped more calmly, so stunning were his words. Makoto rocked back on her heels, as if a blow had been landed physically, eyes wide, mouth open. She had absorbed the strike of lightning with less shock than this. 

But a lightning strike was followed by the boom of thunder, and this moment was no different. Embarrassed anger scorched through her veins, painted her cheeks a bright red. 

Makoto stepped forward and drew herself to her full height, a scant few inches shorter than he, and spat, "I understand more than you think. If you do not think there could be love between us, then say that and be done, Kunzite of Mars, but do not suggest that my heart is so fickle it has room enough only for one. I know my duty  _ and  _ I know that there is no  _ battle  _ between love and duty. I would live and die for my princess, for my Serenity, and no affection I have for another would change that."

She had thrown him. She could see it in the minute widening of his eyes, in the way that now he drew back, a shift of his weight to lean him away from her. 

He spoke, and his voice was not quite so harsh, was laced with an undercurrent she refused to place. 

(It would have been pleading, if she had. He was pleading with her.)

"Our charges must come first in our hearts, there can be no one higher -"

"And when did I say there would? I told you that I  _ liked  _ you, that I like what we  _ do _ . What in all that suggests that I seek to abandon my duty for a man I've only known a year and some months?"

"Is it your own heart you consider so weak, or is it mine you cast judgement on now?" Her eyes flashed; she could feel it, the pulse of lightning behind her eyes, the hurt that poured through her words under a torrent of anger. "I have not asked you to marry me. I am not suggesting we abandon our oaths and our charges, that we become disloyal fiends and seek our own pleasures, I am saying that  _ I like you _ , and if you don't return the feeling then say that, please, because I am not so fragile that I cannot handle rejection."

He swept a hand to the side, a cutting motion. Had he called upon the power of his planetary guardian and transformed, a wave of darkness would have swept the air and shook the stone around them. "You make it all sound so simple, so utterly simple, as if it were only a matter of feelings!"

"Because it is a matter of feelings!"

Makoto cut herself short, breathing deep to calm herself, to cast the strength of thunder's boom from her voice. Those below did not need to hear this. 

"I am not ashamed to say that I have feelings for you. It does not weaken my oath - it strengthens it, to know that I may ever devote my life to Serenity and still feel the spark of love, still welcome others into my life, my heart. I can choose duty and love. I can give my life to my princess and give a piece of my heart to the one I like too. If the problem is you do not want it - that you do not want me - then say that, please. Tell me that you do not share my feelings. But if the problem is that you cannot imagine bearing loyalty to your prince while sharing your heart with another-"

They had been staring at each other, green eyes to silver, she looking up and he looking down, and that contest of eyes broke now, as he looked away. 

She followed him, in that at least. Makoto cast her gaze over the balcony and saw that her princess no longer danced with Endymion (though the music played, and the pounding of her pulse in her ears had been so great she had not noticed) but stood at his side, speaking to a small congregation of other guests. Her voice was quieter when she continued. 

"If you cannot do that, then it is the state of your commitment to your duty that you should question, not mine. Liking you doesn't tempt me to dismiss my oath."

She did not have to see him flinch to know he had. 

"Perhaps I am a fool, to like you even now, when you have misread my character so thoroughly that you would think I would undermine Serenity and Endymion's safety for a matter as selfish as my own happiness. I hope though, that I have only surprised you, and seen not what you truly think of me, but a reflection of that surprise. It is fair, in a sense. I have had many weeks to consider my feelings and know my position, and you have had moments."

"I… Makoto…"

"I will give you time," Makoto said shortly. She flipped the mask in her hand around and with a few careful motions it was once more fastened to her face. "I should return to Serenity. I will hope we speak of this again, and that you will tell me what  _ you  _ feel, in  _ your  _ heart. If we do not - your position will be clear to me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A ball scene! I spent so much of the writing for this chapter just trying to figure out good sources for these outfits, believe it or not. Here's a [link](https://chuplayswithfire.tumblr.com/private/636338452916469760/tumblr_KKRuhl69eEW69ibIB) to all the varying outfits and masks everyone has, for those who need a visual!
> 
> [Arak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arak_\(drink\)) is the national alcoholic drink of Lebanon and is quite popular throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean regions. My view of the Golden Kingdom is that it encompasses much of the Mediterranean, but is predominantly fixed in the sort of gulf-ish region that is where Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt all meet.


	6. Act 6

Procrastination. 

It was the flaw of fools and those lacking a proper work ethic - at least, that was what Kunzite had always believed. Now that the shoe was on the other foot and he stared down the approaching consequences of his own actions, he had more sympathy. The heart of procrastination wasn't laziness. It was denial.

If he refused to reflect on the conversation, he could pretend that it hadn't happened. If he never told anyone about it, he would never receive a dissenting opinion. If he only continued on with his duties as if nothing had happened…

"Are you listening to me, Kunzite?" 

The voice was harsh and demanding, pulling him from his reverie with all the bite of those cursed Earth alligators. Kunzite did not jolt or jerk as someone lacking his natural composure might, but rather blinked slowly, looking Beryl in the eyes once more. 

"Yes," he lied.

Beryl scowled at him, obviously suspect, but continued from where she had left off. "As I was saying, with the Lunar Ball concluded, there are many important matters that…"

...the problem was that he hadn't been continuing on with his duties as if nothing had happened and people were beginning to take note. It was as if his usual iron control had been swept aside and in its place was a sea of seething doubt. Doubts about the decision he'd committed himself to. Doubts about the depths of his feelings. Doubts about the future stretched out before him, a future he had never questioned before and resented questioning now.

He planned for everything and yet Kunzite had never imagined  _ this _ . Love happened to other people. It wasn't supposed to happen to him. this was supposed to happen to Jadeite, to Nephrite, even to Zoisite - he'd crafted a speech tailored to each of them on the off chance of this happening to them, on the chance that some sentimental notion might tempt them to stray from the course.

Never one for himself. 

Hubris and he was paying for it.

"- therefore, I insist on joining Prince Endymion as a chaperone today."

"What?"

Stupid of him, to reveal he hadn't beeen paying attention like this, but - 

How could she possibly think that would work, given the incident just two months before? It had nearly been an interplanetary incident. 

He has to find a way to refute this diplomatically.

"Beryl, you can't possibly think that would be a good idea."

...it was diplomatic by his standards. 

And still, he could see Beryl's face burn red, her eyes wide with fury. Her lips parted soundlessly.

" _ Excuse me? _ "

For a moment anyway. 

"The last time you joined us -"

"A Terran used magic no human should be capable of to  _ imprison  _ you  _ and _ our Prince. Don't tell me you're seeking to blame me for that catastrophe."

Perhaps he should have let Zoisite lead the Senshi, as he'd demanded to once, decades ago. Then it could be him standing in to deal with Beryl while Kunzite lamented - 

No, even better, then it would be _ Zoisite  _ lamenting, because  _ Kunzite  _ would not have spent a year collaborating with Makoto, plotting protection for an endless year of romantic escapades and intimate moments. Kunzite would be growing within the orderly confines of his flowerbed, climbing a pre-planned route along the trellis, growth neatly trimmed and manicured to fit. There would be no unsettling developments, no unasked for feelings. 

There would be no noticing the sparkle of Makoto's eyes or the warmth of her smile as it rivaled the sun. 

_ Not that he noticed any of that now, of course.  _

"Those events occurred, but you did nothing to deescalate the situation, Beryl," he said aloud, firmly shunting aside the memory of what a vision Makoto had been that night, standing atop their skiff, a hand on her hip, an expression of righteous anger heating her face. "Even now you escalate the memory of what happened. We were not captured. We were lifted from the water and dried off after an unpleasant soak."

More words than he might usually spare, bit his mind was wandering and speaking at least forced him to focus on the course he charted with this conversation. Beryl had proven herself a disruptive element in regards to these outings, and there was no need of a replacement.

"I escalate the memory of what happened… Kunzite, never in all our years of acquaintance did I expect you to be so easily blinded. Endymion, yes, for he is kind and generous and loving even to those who don't deserve it, but you. You are one of his Senshi.  _ You  _ are his primary protector. And even you prioritize the wants of Terrans over his needs?"

Once those words would have rolled off his back, worth not even the energy of a scoff. Now, with Kunzite's own doubts over his conduct, the growing evidence of his distraction…

Now, they did not. 

"I prioritize nothing but Prince Endymion's health and well-being," he snapped. 

Snapping was a mistake. He sounded defensive, even to his own ears, and that was an unacceptable weakness in Beryl's company. But the words couldn't be taken back now; they could only be elaborated on, in a succinct and calm manner that might dissuade her from pressing on the matter. 

"Princess Serenity's guardian displayed nothing more than the concern we would demand for our own. She acted for the safety of our prince and her princess, and in such a way that the evening was not a waste. I do not deny that the magical abilities of Earth are concerning -"

"They should be  _ impossible _ . The Earth has no Sailor Crystal. The Earth has no guardian. The  _ Earth _ does not even have access to the light of the Silver Crystal," Beryl's words were not spat with disgust but delivered as relentless statements, each cutting through the air like the sweep of a blade. Her face was still flushed but her lips were pinched with concern. "We should be spending less time worrying about their delicate sensibilities and more time considering what dangers that unstudied magic contains. We know how the magic of our people works. We understand it and we can  _ stop _ it. We know nothing about these Terrans. If one of them should lose control for any reason -"

It was hard to admit that her words were reasonable, that her concerns had merit, but it was worse to know that not long ago they would have been his own concerns. To know that a source of unknown danger was in regular contact with his charge would have once ranked amongst his worst fears. Now he tolerated it regularly. He truly was slipping. 

"Endymion and Serenity will be wed before the year is up. Her secrets will be his secrets then," he raised a hand, seeing the frustration on Beryl's face. "But dig, if it reassures you. Join us, if you must, but don't disrespect our allies."

The sneer that crossed Beryl's face could have stripped paint, but she didn't disagree. Even better was the fact that with victory in her hands, she left.

Kunzite was left to stare after her, shaking his head.

She wouldn't find anything. He  _ hoped  _ she wouldn't find anything. But if she did, it would be better that they knew than that they didn't.

The Earthlings - Makoto, chief among them - had been careful and thorough in concealing their magical abilities. Even now, he knew little to nothing of the extent of their capabilities, Princess Serenity only offering that she hadn't known that magic was meant to be exclusive, and that their power came from the Earth itself.

At the time, Kunzite had carefully avoided stating that this all sounded very much like the nature of a sailor crystal. That Makoto had then, reluctantly, shared that their abilities were elemental in nature only strengthened the comparison. She hadn't elaborated on what elements the rest of them commanded, and Kunzite hadn't asked. He'd known that she would tell him in time, and that until then he would contemplate the evidence until he had uncovered the truth.

Figuring it out before they could be told had been his plan from the moment Endymion had gathered them all to share the news with the three of them who  _ hadn't  _ been present for that romantic-night-turned-disaster. Beryl's comments, her suspicions, the concerns that she was not wrong to say he should share; all of it brought him back to that conversation...

_ "Cute," Nephrite had said. The group of them had stared at him, expressions ranging from confused to irritated, until he continued. "That first visit to Earth, remember? It was raining." _

_ "It rains a disgusting amount on Earth," Zoisite had said flatly, "Get to the point." _

_ Nephrite had rolled his eyes, "Don't get your panties in a twist, I'm getting there. It was raining that first day and the doc was waiting for us. Had all these tarps set up over the paths to keep us dry - but she could have just used that power of hers to keep the rain off and get us dry. The whole thing was unnecessary,  _ except _ as a way to keep us from drowning in Earth rain without giving herself away." _

_ "But why bother with that at all? You all still ended up soaked," pointed out Jadeite then, a puzzled expression pulling his face in as if he were a pouting toddler.  _

_ "Easy," Nephrite had replied, "Probably, anyway. Doc Ami hates rudeness - it's why she and Zoisite get along like a burning building. Letting us get soaked when she could prevent it would be rude even by my 'anything goes as long as it's funny' moral complex. She'd hide that she could just stop the rain, but she'd still find a way for us to not get drenched." _

_ "And you think that's cute?" Beryl had asked. "Manipulative, more like." _

_ "Cuteness is all about manipulation, Beryl. Haven't you ever seen the queen's moon cats? Still, my point is we should have seen it coming. Tarps or not, there was no way she should have been as fresh and dry as she was that day. It was right there in front of our faces. I bet if we look back, it's always been like that. They didn't know they weren't supposed to  _ have _ magic. They were just hiding how good they are with it, the way Zoi pretends he can't lift a man over his head and Kunzite pretends he can't pick out counterfeit art -" _

_ "Your continued fascination is noted," Kunzite had sighed, voice dry.  _

_ "- You bet it's continued," Nephrite had laughed. "But seriously, if we look back, I bet we'll figure it out. Ami's water, the law of balance demands there be a fire -" _

_ "What, you mean like Kunzite's power over darkness demands we have a light?  _ Oh wait _ ," Jadeite had interrupted, sarcasm thick.  _

It had been weeks since then, and they still hadn't been able to narrow anything down. It had been weeks since then, but only two other visits, and Makoto had still not shared the truth. Kunzite should have cared more about that fact. Kunzite should have  _ worried  _ more about that fact, but he didn't. Even now, as he thought himself in circles, he could not truly force himself to worry. He could consider with a clinical eye the dangers that could unravel with such a significant unknown lurking, but he could not make himself believe that there was a true threat. 

Endymion's love for Serenity were both true and mutual, and Kunzite would give his life for Endymion's happiness. He knew that Makoto would do the same. 

How could they grow happiness for themselves when their hearts were so -

No, no, he wasn't thinking of that. He wasn't thinking about any of that. 

He was thinking about magic, and he was thinking of the elemental power Makoto wielded, Makoto and the other Shitennou. He was thinking that if Makoto wasn't the storm itself, he would eat his own tie. 

( Not that he'd ever dare to make that promise out loud, of course. He really had made Nephrite run laps until he was on the urge of vomiting, and he'd already been informed that the fact that he'd run the laps too didn't change the 'fact' that it was a 'bitch move'. )

He had no true, hard evidence to support his claim, but the power of the storm - of lightning strikes and thunder booms, or whirling whiplash winds - was so quintessentially Terran, so fundamentally of the Earth and its untamed forces of nature, that he could picture no other element suiting her. If he assumed that the magic of the Earth was, at its base level, of similar make and core to the magical power of a sailor crystal, then there would be an element of  _ personality _ in the distribution of the elements. The power that each wielder gained would make sense with just a few moments of thought. 

The darkness that sapped sound and energy suited his own at times aggressively introverted tendencies. Nephrite, who saw things at a scale that others could scarcely imagine and missed the trees for the forest, was perfectly matched with the foresight of the stars. Cool, methodical Jadeite's shallow exterior hid a brilliantly tactical interior, as frigid oceans hid the extent of a glacier; it was only natural his power expressed itself through ice. Zoisite burned with pride, with passion, and sparked conversation and controversy with his every breath. The flames that often danced across his fingertips were the only logical choice for him. 

It was with that criteria that Kunzite could be confident that Makoto was the storm - and thus knew that he had been lucky their last conversation hadn't gone worse.

She'd been right, after all. He had dealt her a terrible insult in calling her loyalties into question. 

A scowl crossed his lips. There he was, thinking about it again. Kunzite shook his head. 

There was nothing to contemplate. His insult, and the apology he owed her for it, that was the  _ only _ thing she had been right about. 

🌕🌹🌏

Three hours later, Princess Serenity arrived. With the Lunar Ball behind them, she was clad in her usual attire, and so were her guardians. Makoto stood at her right side, the sunlight lending a reddish hue to her brown hair, and Kunzite stared, drinking the sight of her in. It had been a month since he’d seen her in sunlight, and as beautiful as she was under the night sky, the day was where she shone brightest. The sight of her standing before him, after days of refusing to truly think of her was intoxicating - 

Kunzite forced himself to look beyond her and found his eyes widening at the sight of the woman walking at Serenity’s left. It hardly mattered that Rei had stood on the Moon's surface just a fortnight ago - the Lunar Ball was a once a decade occasion, one that demanded a change of routine. This was to be an ordinary visit between Endymion and Serenity, down to the rustic picnic lunch planned, and the raven-haired priestess did not join her princess for perfectly normal visits to the Moon Kingdom. 

This was the thirty-third visit, the seventeenth of which had taken place on their own territory, and Kunzite could recall only one occasion in which Rei had accompanied Serenity to the Moon Kingdom and it had involved an unexpected outbreak of disease forcing Ami to withdraw from her position as chaperone for an occasion. Of the sixteen previous visits, Makoto had been present for all of them, Minako for eight, and Ami for seven.

It was possible that it was only a coincidence. It was also possible that Kunzite was secretly a dozen moon cats operating a hollow mannequin. 

Jadeite‘s openly puzzled expression made it clear that Kunzite wasn’t the only one to find this odd. As Endymion stepped forward to offer Serenity his hand, the blond Senshi opened his mouth. In the interest of stopping a diplomatic incident, Kunzite had no choice but to take decisive action. 

He stepped on Jadeite's foot, allowing his weight to settle atop the thin leather of Jadeite's impractical heels, and his friend choked, any potential words swallowed as he forced himself not to shout. The glare he shot Kunzite was vicious and promised vengeance. 

Kunzite stared back at him passively. He had been telling Jadeite for years that heeled sandals weren't adequate protective footwear. Perhaps this lesson would encourage him to make a change for his own good. Or perhaps it wouldn't, and he would put the blame for the whole affair on Kunzite. It wouldn't matter, in the end. Serenity was already lowering Endymion's hand from her lips, their ritualistic display of public affection concluded, her guardians were looking away and talking to each other, and the opportunity for Jadeite to inappropriately inquire about Rei's presence was gone. Everything was fine. 

"You don't usually join us up here, Lady Rei," Jadeite said anyway. Kunzite froze. Makoto, who had been talking to Rei, also froze. Endymion looked puzzled;Serenity surprised. The Senshi of Venus smiled. "Are things alright down on Earth, or did the Lunar Ball just impress you so much you decided to come back?"

_ Ah, _ Kunzite realized, entirely too late. That was the sort of vengeance his glare had promised. The decision to ask the question anyway, regardless of how rude it might be, purely because Kunzite had chosen to cut him off. 

It was a decision he couldn't respect but should have expected. 

"Is it a problem that I've come?" Rei asked, voice frosty. She was the only one who hadn't frozen up, and she lifted her chin in challenge as she stared Jadeite down. 

"It's not a problem for  _ us _ that you've come, no," Jadeite answered, inappropriately cheerful. He was even smiling as he looked back at her, as if his words couldn't have ever been taken as an insult, as if he were not the target of a glare even Kunzite could acknowledge as impressively foreboding. The man had always lacked a survival instinct, and now that was on full display for everyone to see. "But people don't usually just change their habits out of the blue. The last time you showed up on our side of the sky, there was some kind of plague going on down there. I just thought it'd be good to know everything was alright!"

That was the problem with working with a people person - even Kunzite, who had worked and trained and slept and played and lived alongside Jadeite for more than a hundred and fifty years now, couldn't tell if he was bullshitting them or not.

"Everything's fine on Earth," Makoto said easily, breaking into the conversation as if her peer weren't trying to light Jadeite on fire with the power of her eyes alone. "Maybe it's strange, after all this time, but we did just want to shake things up."

"Well, change is always welcome," Endymion spoke up before Jadeite could even finish opening his mouth to reply, still holding Serenity's hand and smiling warmly at them all. He shot Jadeite an all too obviously puzzled look, and Kunzite spared a second to regret that Endymion had never grasped the idea of subtlety. Hundreds of bones in his body and cells in his brain, and not a single one understood the concept. "In fact, I've planned one myself!"

"You have?" asked Serenity, excitement in her eyes.

"You have?" asked Makoto, wariness creeping into her tone.

" _ You _ have?" asked Kunzite, resigned despair weighing down his shoulders. 

Neither Jadeite nor Rei spoke, but their expressions were identically puzzled, the blond cocking his head as he stared at his prince, the priestess scowling as she did the same. 

"I did! Well,  _ we _ did - Beryl helped," Endymion elaborated immediately, throwing the Plutonian a bright smile before facing his betrothed, earnest excitement dripping from every word. "I know we'd talked about exploring Mare Nubium, but it turns out the classical society is hosting a concert in the plains of Mare Imbrium, with a dance floor. I thought, since we were interrupted so many times at the ball, it might be nice to give it another shot - you know, with some actual privacy this time.”

It was a genuinely good idea, and the fact that Kunzite was so surprised wasn’t quite fair to Endymion, who was genuinely brilliant, but…

He was still surprised. 

A year was such a short amount of time, but even so, changes in their growing routine rarely presented themselves. Endymion and Serenity had grown used to sneaking about, and even on their sanctioned outings that had never truly changed, the pair of them exploring and picnicking rather than share an acceptably romantic evening. Kunzite had allowed himself to grow accustomed to it all. A mistake, clearly. Once, it would have never been possible for Endymion to plan a change of this nature without his being aware. Now, he was as caught off guard as everyone else. And to think, Endymion had gone to Beryl for assistance, rather than ask Kunzite, or even one of his other inner guardians… 

The evidence of his distraction was only growing.

“That sounds wonderful,” Serenity enthused, her grip on Endymion’s hand tightening. At some point her other hand had taken the chance to join in on the gripping, and she clutched at his hand with both of hers, her smile wide with delight. “Incredible, even! Dancing with you was so much fun, even though I had to keep looking at my feet to make sure I didn’t trip -”

“No one noticed,” Endymion was quick to reassure her, and he captured her two hands with his remaining one, the two of them standing there, staring into each other’s eyes, clutching hands, as if they were the only two people in the universe. “I didn’t even notice, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.”

“He realizes that might not necessarily be a compliment, doesn’t he?” Rei asked Makoto, her voice low enough that Kunzite’s ears only just caught on. 

Kunzite stifled a smile - if Endymion did manage to hear that comment, he didn’t want him to think he was mocking him, not when Kunzite was actually quite pleased with him. They had talked about this, again, and again, and again, the need to take risks in planning outings, to continue to explore, to ensure that these outings were always opportunities to learn more, to understand. Endymion did not have the time for the extended, elaborate courtship he was owed, not if he wanted to wed before his bride was long past what the Earth considered marriageable years. Serenity’s people were already growing impatient, he knew - this courtship was already longer than her people thought acceptable. His prince needed to make every moment a chance to better know his future bride. 

And to his credit, he had, and so had Serenity, the both of them falling ever harder for the other. Kunzite could not count the number of times Endymion had spontaneously burst into rapturous praise for the woman he loved, the number of occasions on which his prince had simply begun to smile or to laugh with only a whispered mention of Serenity to explain it. 

But none of that - those conversations, that advice, those deepening affections - none of that had been enough to change the fact that Serenity and Endymion were simply unromantic in their tastes. 

So while going to a concert and sharing a dance might have and should have seemed an ordinary occasion for another couple, Kunzite could say with authority that for these two, it was the peak of romance. 

“He’d have to think about insulting Serenity to realize that,” Makoto whispered back. “I don’t think he’s got it in him.”

“To be young and in love,” Rei murmured back. Her tone was mocking, but fondly.

“He’s older than both of us, remember?”

“To be a fool in love then.”

“That, he definitely is,” Jadeite agreed, and the two woman started, looking at him in surprise. The blond smiled at them. Makoto returned it and Rei did not - clearly she hadn’t yet forgotten his earlier comments. “You’d think a year would have brought those two less out of orbit but… it’s pretty cute, huh? How in their own little world they are.”

“Quite,” Rei replied, and then continued, as if unable to help herself, “Does it really bother you so much to see me in your territory, Jadeite?”

“Bother me?” The blond blinked, and then shook his head, smile falling. “No, it doesn’t bother me. I meant it when I said there’s no problem. But it’s pretty clear you prefer keeping your feet firmly on the Earth, and I don’t blame you. I just wanted to be sure having you up here is a genuinely happy occasion, and not - you know, something I ought to be giving you sympathy about.”

“So seeing me is a happy occasion -”

That was when Kunzite turned his ears from the conversation, bringing his full focus back to the royal couple rather than what was beginning to sound disturbingly close to a flirtation. 

He hadn’t missed much. Serenity and Endymion were still staring into each other’s eyes, still holding hands, still speaking about the ball and reassuring each other as though there had been an international incident rather than a perfectly satisfactory ball. 

“Do you think we’ve given them enough time to get it out of their system, or should we hold back a few more minutes?”

Kunzite jumped. He was ashamed to admit it, but with Makoto’s voice so abruptly in his ear, he could not help it. 

Makoto laughed. 

_ She could have helped with that,  _ he thought to himself, uncharitably. He had enough presence of mind not to say such things out loud, at least. He stared instead, which may not have been much better, but was at least less personally embarrassing. It was all he could bring himself to do; he had not done as she had asked. He had not considered her feelings. He had not considered his own. He did not see any path for them but that which he had already spoken into existence.

A path of denial, for the both of them. They could have no future together, not when duty demanded their fullest attention, and the mere thought of something more had so rattled him. Perhaps Makoto could manage better than he. Perhaps the brevity of life lent a courage to her kind that he could never understand, or perhaps it was only that of the two of them, surely he was the one who would suffer, when the heart he might entrust to her hands was buried in the earth with her. 

He wasn’t afraid of suffering. He wasn’t afraid of loss. 

But why anyone would invite such a thing upon themselves - well. He loved Endymion. He would never understand him. 

“We may as well move them along,” he said when he could be certain his voice would reflect nothing more than calm. “They’ve the entire afternoon to enjoy each other’s company, and there won’t be any dips into the water at a concert, at least.”

“Not that that was all that bad,” Makoto pointed out. He did not dare to look at her, now that they stood so close, now that her voice reflected none of the feeling she’d shook with when last they spoke. There was nothing to say, nothing he could offer her, and she had said - 

She had said, that if he did not speak of it, then his position - 

It would be clear. 

He could only hope that was true. He could only hope they would not speak again of it. He could only hope that she would not challenge him, lest his control crumble, as his attention had for the last two weeks. 

“Very well,” she said, and he could almost pretend that nothing had changed. That he was unaware of everything - those things both said and not. “Lead the way.”

( Later, he would know - even then, with his eyes on Endymion, with his ears turned to Makoto, even then, his attention had not been where it belonged. )

🌕🥀🌏

“Serenity!” 

The howl split the air, a shriek of terror and devastation that chilled the blood, that froze the bones, but Kunzite did not relinquish his prince. He held the thrashing, fighting, screaming man to his chest, his arms pinning Endymion’s to his sides as he forced them back, grimly ignoring every kick and strike to his shins and stomps at his feet that his prince tried to land. 

“Serenity! Damn you Kunzite, let me go to her! Serenity!”

Blood spread slowly - it was not water, light and flowing and spilling ever so easily across a surface. Blood was viscous, was thick, and yet a great pool of it had formed beneath Serenity, red, red, red, brighter than any rose, a color that demanded attention, that commanded notice, that shouted for all to hear - 

_ Something has gone terribly wrong here. _

The princess that lay in Makoto’s arms did not shout. She did not cry out, she did not respond to the fear in Endymion’s voice, to the terror in her guardian’s as the flow of her blood was staunched. She was still and quiet, and Kunzite could not be sure she lived. 

He could be sure of nothing at all but the need to get Endymion away from the flames.

They raged, burning higher and hotter than any flame Zoisite had ever commanded, a fire of rage and grief that needed no fuel, not with the power their summoner poured into them, devouring everything in their path - devouring those musicians unable to flee in time, the instruments they abandoned, the decor of the concert arena, the body of the one to strike the blow.

Kunzite had not seen the man, not before he was wreathed in flame and reduced to a screaming, begging mass. He had not seen the blow, only the aftermath, only the tip of the blade that jutted from Serenity’s abdomen and the sudden pallor of her face, the parting of her lips. He had pulled Endymion back. 

He had pulled Endymion back, and he would be forever grateful for that, because the man to strike the blow was not the only one to go up in flames, was not the only soul screaming in agony, for the circle of flame had not cared to ask who was responsible. Endymion had been pulled away before the flames could erupt, and that was the only reason he was safe and whole in Kunzite’s arms, the only reason he was not gasping in pain as Jadeite was, clutching an arm that was sure to be blistered and bleeding under the glove of his uniform. 

If he ever took that uniform off again, Kunzite would be astonished. He’d let his guard down for the dance, had laughed and smiled and promised that he would snap to after just one dance, the orange of his uniform was an eyesore on such a muted dance floor, it would be fine - 

“Serenity!”

It was not fine. 

Nothing may ever be fine again.

“Kill the witch!”

The rallying cry came from the left, from a voice hard with determination, poisonous with hate. “KIll them all and restore peace to our lands!”

“Save your breath, Endy,” Jadeite wheezed, as a dozen voices roared their agreement and surrendered to fear and rage and hate. Their people rallied, not to their prince, but to the Soldier of Time.

To Beryl.

“No one’s listening.”


	7. Act 7

Kunzite had not yet drawn breath when last war touched the Silver Millennium. Peace had been won with words written and spoken, had been building in kind action and polite reaction, had stood like a monument to their wisdom, their grace, their superiority over the endlessly warring humans down on Earth...

All of that peace, and all it took to shatter it were the words of a single woman, weaponizing centuries of unacknowledged prejudice.

Serenity survived.

He knew nothing more, and he did not try to learn - knowledge may have been power, but attention was not limitless. A dozen people had had to die before Kunzite could admit he could only focus on so many things, and he didn’t care to dare the universe to teach him that lesson once more. They were at war. Beryl had rallied enough of the Moon’s people to her position that even the queen’s word didn’t seem enough to stop them, not with the evidence of Beryl's claims burned into the stone of Mare Imbrium. The people of the Silver Millennium didn't care about evidence-less claims of self-defense from a man they thought at best ensnared by a witch.

Rei’s fire had burned long after she was gone. Those who had fallen there would never be recovered, their ashes lost amidst the dust, but bodies weren’t necessary when there were witnesses eager to share the horrors they’d seen, words flowing from their lips like water, like rain, drowning any last chances for peace. None of them cared that Serenity was struck first. The handful who admitted it were ignored. 

Kunzite did not pay attention to any of it. 

He couldn’t, not with Endymion to watch. Endymion, who had last seen Serenity stained red by her own blood, cradled in Makoto’s arms like an infant, there and gone as if the air itself had simply winked out of existence. 

Teleported. 

No sound in all the world could match the hell that was Endymion’s screaming then, rage and fury and grief and hate knotted into a sound no conscious being should have been capable of. 

The silence that fell was worse. 

It had been days, and still his prince would not speak a word. Anger had set his gaze aflame, anger at Beryl for her crimes, at his people for following her, at the war, at -

Kunzite. 

Who had held him back. Who had forced him away from Serenity as she lay still, as she lay dying. Who had prevented his every attempt at escape to Earth, who had ordered Zoisite to Earth rather than allow Endymion to go, who caught him out in his every attempt to sneak away, who disobeyed his every order, now. 

Endymion’s every order was for Serenity, Serenity, Serenity - to be at her side, to be on her planet, to beg her forgiveness for a betrayal he hadn’t seen coming, as if his world weren’t falling apart around him, as if war didn’t threaten the very fabric of their society, as if there were still any chance he could have her, hold her, love her. 

It was all he spoke of.

It was all he was  _ speaking  _ of.

"Your duty is to me!" Endymion shouted. He didn't care if anyone heard him. He had stopped caring in the moments after Serenity was taken away, and the knowledge that she lived had only worked to kill any last impulse towards self-control that remained. The calm and measured front he put on for others, the mischievous wanderer he'd grown into in Serenity's company, the sensitive heart he'd always hidden - all of that was gone now, every mask stripped away. "To me, Kunzite! Not to my mother! Not to Beryl! Not to the  _ Silver Millennium _ , it is to me! So take me to her!"

"My duty is to your  _ safety _ ," Kunzite snapped back. It was not the first time. It would not be the last, either. "My duty is to ensure your protection! The Earth is not safe, or did you forget that you would have burned in those flames too, had I not dragged you away?"

"I would be with her if you hadn't dragged me away! We wouldn't be stuck relying on Zoisite sneaking around if you hadn't dragged me away!"

Idiot child. Idiot, self-sacrificing, selfish - "You would have  _ died  _ if I hadn't dragged you away!"

"I was willing to risk that!" Papers flew and pens rolled as Endymion slammed both hands down on the desk. His face was the incarnation of fury, the harsh lines and deep shadows of the Moon's surface carved into his face. Anger did not animate him. It froze him, left him with all the steadfast anger of stone - unbending, immovable, touched by the ancient memory of explosive creation. He leaned forward, blue eyes as cold and deep as the atmosphere-less space surrounding their planet. When he spoke again, it was through teeth grit in anger. "I was willing to risk that, and you took my choice from me."

As if it were that simple. As if it had been some calculated decision. 

As if Kunzite had not seen a firestorm set to engulf his very life and acted. As if Kunzite could simply stand by while Endymion destroyed them both. 

"I would take that choice and many more if it meant your safety," he told him, staring down at Endymion. Something great and terrible had settled in his chest. His lungs filled, but it was as though a barrier prevented the air from passing through. He drew breath, but there was nowhere for it to go. "Your life is worth more than -"

"Worth more than hers? Is that what you were going to say?" 

"Yes." Unashamed. Unafraid. Utterly without regret. "And if you think Serenity's Shitennou don't feel as I do, you're fooling yourself. You are my priority, and Serenity is theirs -"

"And Serenity is  _ mine _ ," Endymion snapped, interrupting again. His shoulders were bent, his back a tense curve. His cheeks were flushed with anger. "Why can't you accept that!"

Frustration was building a fire in Kunzite, that tight feeling in his chest only worsening with every word he spoke. His self-control was weakening now that he'd had one outburst, the cracked wall more willing to crumble. He tried to seize control, to draw away from feeling and focus on fact. 

"Because as the heir to the Silver Millennium you're capable of more  _ here _ , in your empire, advocating on her behalf, than you are weeping uselessly at her bedside. You've spoken to your mother, you could be working with her to lay down arms and end this conflict!"

Endymion's meetings with the Queen - two, the first the day of the attack and the second two full days ago - had been the only moments the Moon's prince had spent out from under Kunzite's gaze. The Martian Senshi had spent those moments guarding the only entrance to the sealed room in which the two spoke, reminding himself to breathe. 

Staring down his prince, he was still reminding himself to breathe.

Endymion laughed. It was a sudden and desperate sound, as though his anger had only been a shell and now that it had cracked there was only the desperation. 

"My mother agrees with Beryl! My mother believes that the people of Earth were  _ hiding  _ their magic so they could pose a threat to us, that there's no reason to call off the fighting now that it's started, because this will be faster than marriage and indisputable. She thinks I'm  _ infatuated _ , that I'm not thinking clearly - so no! No, I'm not capable of more here. Even if all I can do on Earth is get on my knees and beg for Serenity's forgiveness, it will be more than I'm doing here!"

Kunzite froze. His eyes widened. The cracked foundation of his self-control shattered, and he sat heavily, gripping with unfamiliar desperation at the arms of his chair. He found that he could breathe again, that the fullness of his chest had been replaced with a wheezing emptiness, and he struggled through several harsh breaths, trying to put the world in order again. 

Endymion continued, each word falling with the weight of an avalanche, unrelenting.

"Mother is willing to bring our full force to bear against them - not just what we on the Moon can muster, but the might of every other planet within the Silver Millennium. The Golden Kingdom will be overrun, and if Serenity and the rest of her kingdom refuse to bow, so will the rest of the planet. Maybe I can't do anything. Maybe she'll even believe I was lying to her, and that everything was a trick. But maybe I  _ can _ do something. Not here, not now, but down there, standing at her side, I can  _ help _ her."

There was no chance that a planet like Earth - backwater, undeveloped, out of touch,  _ isolated _ Earth - could ever stand before the Silver Millennium and triumph. 

This wasn't arrogance, this wasn't prejudice - this was fact, pure and simple. 

The Earth had maintained sovereignty all these years because they hadn't been a threat. Because it hadn't mattered that they alone were the incomplete piece of the puzzle, when all the Earth had to offer was an exotic tourist locale and a short-lived, superstitious population. There had never been a  _ point  _ to the chaos, the bloodshed, the disruption of millennia of peace, that bringing the Earth in line would require. 

Now there was a point. Now there were lives to avenge and wounded pride in need of balm. it no longer mattered why or how the Earth had magic, only that the people of the Silver Millennium had been ignorant, had been blind, had been made  _ fools of _ . 

Makoto was going to die for such foolish things. Serenity had bled and bled and bled, red pools on marble floors, for such foolish things. 

Endymion was determined to throw himself in death's path for such foolish things. 

"How are you going to do that?  _ How  _ are you going to  _ help _ ? If your mother - if Beryl has the unlimited support of the Silver Millennium, how can we stop her?"

He was demanding. Or maybe he was begging. Pleading. Seeking an answer, a solution, that he with all his logic and calculation couldn't conceive of. 

"I can convince her to surrender. I  _ will _ convince her to surrender. I have to convince her to surrender."

And Endymion was begging in the same way, pleading, seeking, demanding, convincing himself that there was a way out, that this was not the end of everything that it so clearly was. 

"You have to take me to Earth. It's the only way."

🌕🥀🌏

"Endymion wouldn't do this," Serenity rasped weakly. She sat in bed, propped up by a mountain of pillows to ease her breathing, her armor and working clothes traded for delicate, breathable fabrics that wouldn’t cling to her skin or bandages.

The sound of her voice made Makoto want to weep, to rage, at the idiot naivety that still warmed her princess's heart, when Makoto herself would never forget the hot, slimy feel of Serenity's innards held in place by her own hand and nothing more. 

It had taken nearly all of Serenity's magic, and Makoto's and Minako's and Ami's on top of that, to keep her intact and strong enough to last through the surgery Ami promised would keep her alive. It was a promise Makoto would not believe from anyone else, not when even now Serenity was as pale as a corpse, ashen-faced and pinched with blood loss and pain. The medicines that would have kept her truly comfortable would also have dulled her senses - against all medical advice, Serenity had refused to do more than take the edge off the pain. 

Perhaps she was too afraid her guardians would go off in search of Endymion's head, if she were truly lulled to stupor here in the heart of the Golden Palace, where she would never hope to catch up to them in time to stop the bloodshed.

If that  _ was _ the case, then she was right to be afraid - Makoto would take his traitorous life if she was fortunate enough to lay eyes on him again.

"We've gone over this a dozen times, Serenity," she snapped, hating herself for it and yet in no mood to rein in her frustration. "Endymion collaborated with Beryl to change the location of your outing. Endymion guided you to the dance floor. Endymion -"

_ was pulled away by Kunzite before Rei could broil the both of them _ , her mind finished darkly. It was true, but it did not need to be said, not when it would only upset the both of them all the more -Serenity for the implication that Endymion was anything like her attackers, and herself for the way her own fool heart  _ still _ twisted at the thought of Kunzite. She changed tactics instead, continuing as Serenity's lips pulled back into a frustrated scowl. 

"You almost died.  _ You almost died _ . Can we put Endymion and what he would do aside and focus on  _ that _ ?"

"All we've done is focus on that, for days and days -" Serenity broke off into a coughing fit, one small hand clutching at the front of her nightgown. The other clutched at her belly, splayed wide against the cloth hiding her bandages from sight. 

Eight stitches to her back. Thirteen to her front, where the wound had exited and then been forcibly drawn through. A shade closer, and her spine would have been severed. A shade farther, and her intestines cut open, a death through agonizing blood loss or septic poisoning that even Ami's genius wouldn't have been enough to stop. 

It had been five days since then, since she'd clutched Serenity to her and covered her wounds with her own body, her own hands and jacket and desperate fears, the biting heat of Rei's flames licking at her skin as control wavered with every gush of blood Serenity's body lost. They had barely escaped. That, too, had taken nearly more than she had in her, focusing her magic with Serenity's flickering light, with Rei's molten core, reaching with all her heart's desperate might for the core of the Earth, for  _ Elysium _ ...

For three days, Rei was the only one of them with any magic at all. Makoto doubted the seer would ever forgive her and Minako for making that decision, for refusing to allow her to give more than a scant drop of power to Serenity. That was fine. She was fine with that, when it meant the first wave of attackers to follow them from the Moon died in screaming agony, burning in a fire that refused to go out. 

"I almost died," Serenity continued when her coughing had passed stubborn, stubborn, always so stubborn. "But I didn't. I  _ didn't _ . And Endymion wasn't the one to put a weapon through my back. He isn't like that, and if we talk to him -"

"If we talk to him?" Minako would have laughed, incredulous and cruel, biting in her worry and anger. Makoto was not Minako. She did not laugh the words, threw them as bluntly as she might a punch, throwing all the weight of her heart behind them. "The Moon's people call you a witch and demand your head. They're rallying the other planets to fight at their side, and you think we can get close enough to Endymion to talk to him?!"

"He loves me," Serenity insisted. The hand that had clutched so desperately to her chest now grasped at blankets. "If I can talk to him, surely there's a way we can stop this before there's any more bloodshed. We can't just give up!  _ I  _ can't just give up! We were so close to everything we wanted for our home, one bitter woman can't just take it all away!"

She broke into another coughing fit, back bent low and shoulders bowed as she tried to regain control. Makoto moved closer and pressed a hand to her back, slowly beginning to stroke the tense muscles. She stayed well above the bandages, too wary of putting pressure near the wound to risk anything. She held Serenity close, supporting her princess' weight, giving her something solid to hold onto as she half-coughed out her lungs. 

At this rate, the Lunarians weren’t going to have to keep trying to kill them. Ami would do it herself, if she saw how worked up Serenity was getting. 

“Breathe, Serenity, breathe,” Makoto urged. She combed her fingers through her long, long hair, starting at the root and working down to her mid back, then back to the top again, rubbing between her shoulders all the while. “If we go to the Moon now, we’ll be bringing them a massacre, when they try to finish what they started and we strike them down where they stand.”

She delivered her point matter of factly, forgoing comfort in the hope that she could make Serenity understand their situation. She didn't know if she believed Endymion had nothing to do with it. She couldn't allow herself to believe  _ Kunzite  _ had nothing to do with it, not with how clever he was. How capable, how utterly focused. Even if Endymion hadn't seen what was happening under his own nose - how could Kunzite have not?

“We aren’t dealing with a single, bitter woman. We’re dealing with the might of the Silver Millennium, and if you’re right that Endymion wouldn’t agree with this, then that just means they’ve managed all of this without his notice  _ or _ cooperation.”

The impact of her words was a physical one; she felt Serenity flinch as understanding dawned. If she could be attacked, if her home could be attacked, all of it without Endymion’s cooperation - even if they went to the Moon and gained Endymion’s cooperation, what good would it do?

“We miscalculated,” Makoto continued grimly. “Minako is already kicking herself for it. Beryl was antagonistic from the start, and because Kunzite framed it as a matter of personality and Endymion dismissed it, we didn’t take more proactive measures. You saw how she reacted to Ami’s magic - we were worried about more negative reactions, but we didn’t get in front of the situation. Maybe Endymion  _ didn't _ have anything to do with it, but if we had talked with Kunzite and Endymion and done...something, anything, that woman wouldn't have had control over spilling our secret.”

“We didn’t think she’d say anything,” Serenity protested softly. “Why would we? She might not have liked me, but -”

“But we didn’t think she’d try to have you killed, I know.” Makoto withdrew the hand that had been rubbing at Serenity’s back and used it to scrub her face wearily. “And maybe we couldn’t predict that, but it was obvious that magic was an  _ issue _ for some of the Lunarians. We were keeping our abilities quiet to keep the advantage just in case, but the second we saw their shock at the fact that we had magic at all, we should have done something and we didn’t and now it’s too late.”

It was too late. She should have said something, done something. Instead of pouring her heart out to Kunzite, she should have planned with him. That at least would have done some good.

“It’s never too -” Serenity began, and it was so obvious that she was scrabbling for hope.

It was so clear that Makoto would have to be the one to ruin that for her. Hope wouldn't see them through this. The best they could hope for was their own survival - Kunzite would ensure Endymion's. She would ensure Serenity's.

“It is too late. His people want you dead and ours want  _ them _ dead. Your mother is on the warpath. The other kingdoms are furious. I’m sorry. I know you love him. But there’s no way this can end with you marrying Endymion  _ and  _ having your safety  _ and  _ keeping an attachment to the Golden Kingdom. You have to choose, and we have to hope that you’ll choose -”

The bellow of a great horn cut her off, the sound carried through the windows, resonating through the air as if it had been carried through the bones of the Earth instead. The door burst open as Makoto leapt to her feet, Ami staring at them wild-eyed. 

“The Lunarians are attacking with greater numbers this time,” the doctor explained before more than a matched pair of startled noises could escape them. “They’re coming through the forest, and there’s too much of it for Rei to just burn it down. She and Minako are holding them off, but that forest surrounds half the palace, and -”

“And if they cut off the palace it’s over,” Makoto finished grimly. It wasn’t a hard tactic to grasp, brutal in its simplicity. “I’ll go. Take Serenity and run.”

“What?!” Serenity squawked.

“To Elysion,” Ami agreed. Her voice was steady and calm, everything that her face wasn’t. Sweat beaded her forehead and dotted her temples while her eyes were wide. “It’s the only place they won’t be able to follow us.”

“No,” Serenity said and groped for the side of her bed. “I’m not leaving you!”

Makoto and Ami moved as one, both of them putting their hands on her shoulders and pushing her back. She went easily, weaker than the smallest of the newborn rabbits in her hutches. Makoto swallowed as she considered how many of them would be trampled and burned tonight, held as they were near the center of the palace. 

“Yes,” Makoto said, soft as the first rush of clouds to bear the storm. It was nightfall, the sun being slowly swallowed by the sky, and the last glimpses of light were vanishing under the weight of the storm clouds rolling in. around Golden Palace, and only the Golden Palace. “You are. You have to. If they kill you here, it will all have been for nothing.”

Outside, it began to rain. A warning the Lunarians wouldn’t understand and a gesture that Serenity did - she clenched her eyes shut and turned her face, as if that would hide the sob that caught in her throat, the furious wetness of her eyes. 

“Come back to me,” she begged, as the first lightning strikes touched the ground. 

Never in all her life had Makoto been able to deny Serenity anything, and she'd never truly regretted that fact, because what Serenity wanted, Makoto wanted for her. For her to live through this battle so they could be reunited - that was what they both wanted, and so Makoto would do everything in her power to make it so. 

She smiled, the corners of her mouth pinching; there had been so little to smile for these last days that face now protested at the gesture, too accustomed to a frown. Anything, for Serenity, even if she wasn't looking - let her hear the smile in Makoto's voice. 

Makoto leaned down and pressed a kiss to Serenity's forehead, sparing a second she didn't have. 

"Of course I will," she promised. "Nothing ever keeps me down."

Serenity swallowed hard, her eyes still clenched shut, though Makoto couldn't tell whether it was to hide her tears or to hide from the sight of her departure. Either way was fine, for it meant that she didn't catch the grim look Makoto threw Ami's way, or see the tightness of her knuckles as she clutched her sword. Dying was easy and living was harder.

She strode through the single entrance to Serenity's chamber, footsteps heavy on the dark wood and heavier still on the cold stone the flooring transitioned to. 

Makoto did not say, “Stay safe.” She did not say, “Do what you must.” She knew that Ami would do what was needed,  _ whatever _ was needed. 

Just as she knew that she herself would do her best to keep this promise - but that there was every chance that she would not. Serenity's safety would come first, as it always had, as it always would. She was not eager to die, and she would stave off death with all her might, but as long as Serenity was safe…

She drew her sword, wrapped her fingers around the familiar grip and hefted that comforting, deadly weight. The further she went, the more she could hear it, the clash of swords and the cries of battle, the crack of a chain whip and the crackle of flame. Minako and Rei and countless others, risking their lives, fighting. Makoto wasn't afraid to join them. She would forget Endymion, forget Kunzite; neither of them were here and neither of them were coming. The people she needed, the people she loved and who loved her - they were here with her.

And they believed what she did - that anything would be worth it, as long as Serenity was safe.

🌏🥀🌕

It was night on Earth, and the Moon loomed overhead. The familiar circle of silver-white cut through the darkness, but the Moon's brightness was not nearly so effective as the lashes of lightning that cut through the air to strike and strike and strike at the grounds of the Golden Palace or the pillars of flame that rose in unpredictable bursts. The forest path that Ami had once led he, Nephrite, and Endymion down was intact, but only just. Foliage and branches alike wore the signs of conflict in the form of fresh fire scars and sword gashes. There was no way of identifying who had left them, only that they had passed through recently. This battle was a new one.

Kunzite grimaced. His arm swept out to block Endymion from moving further. "We need to turn back."

"They need us  _ now _ more than ever - what do you mean  _ turn back _ ?" Endymion demanded incredulously. "Can't you see they're fighting?"

"Fighting  _ our people _ ," Kunzite bit out, refusing to look skyward, refusing to acknowledge the forks of lightning cutting across the sky, refusing to consider his belief that Makoto was the storm itself, _ refusing  _ to deduce that she must be somewhere at the heart of this battle. "How are you going to broker a surrender in the middle of battle? How are you going to convince our people to listen to you in the fight for their lives?"

"The fight for  _ their _ lives -"

As they argued, the direction of the howling winds changed - sound flowed to their position, punctuated with the steady boom of thunder. The sound of metal striking metal. The sound of screaming. 

Screams of rage. Screams of triumph. Screams of  _ pain _ .

Endymion bolted towards them before Kunzite could finish his sentence, abandoning the path for a race through the trees. 

_ Fuck _ .

Kunzite had no choice but to follow. He hadn't transformed before they arrived, hadn't taken on the mantle of Sailor Mars for fear of the bright purple and red drawing attention to himself and his charge. Without the added strength and speed of transformation and with a headstart on Endymion's side, it wasn't long before he was left behind, cursing to himself as he shoved aside the branches and shrubs in his path. 

"Endymion," he called fruitlessly. He dared not shout the name, and his whisper couldn't possibly be heard, but he couldn't bring himself to not use every safe measure in his arsenal. Even when they were utterly useless. There was only one place Endymion would have gone. 

Why did Endymion always,  _ always _ , have to run  _ to _ the danger?

The forest thinned and then vanished, replaced by dust-coated tiles and burnt grasses, and on Kunzite ran, tearing through the empty gates of the Golden Kingdom's central palace. The bodies of two guardsmen were crumpled on the ground, the moonlight reflected in pools of their blood and their wide, blank eyes. Theirs weren't the only bodies - men and women in the garb of the Golden Kingdom's guard lay in ungainly heaps and sprawls, abandoned where they'd fallen. 

Most of them had company in their final rest. His own people, citizens of the Silver Millennium who gripped at their blades even in death.

Warfare was an art form alone, even on Mars. A ceremonial dance to most, a game to more. How could they let fear take such a tight grip on their senses? So the Earthlings had magic, what did it matter?

There were fresh footsteps in the blood, overlaid atop the drying mess of other marks. Endymion's, Kunzite could only hope. He stole a sword from one of the fallen, loosening their death grip with a harsh tug. The weight of it was familiar, for all that he too had never had cause to wield one in battle. 

Lightning flashed overhead. Kunzite caught a glimpse of his reflection in the blade, steel eyes hard and fine Lunarian clothes in disarray from his journey in the forest. The only difference between him and those lying on the ground was that he still drew breath. If he could get Endymion away, no one would be able to swear they had been here. No one could be sure. Endymion could be safe and this madness could be tried again, with more planning, scouting settled in advance to be sure it would be safe...

( Makoto would be fine. With the storm and fire and flood and the Galaxy Cauldron only knew what else at her side, against opponents whose only magic lay in longevity, she would be fine. )

All he needed to do was find Endymion.

He lowered the blade. He stepped over the bodies and strode into the killing ground of the Golden Palace.

Pillars and benches were spattered with blood. Flowering plants and bushes were crushed under bodies thrown aside. The dying uttered ragged breaths and gurgles as he passed them, refusing to stop but not refusing to look. He was making a choice, to wade into the hell his people had made of this place, and he was choosing to ignore those who hovered between life and death to chase after Endymion. It was the least he could do to look at those he was leaving to die. 

The palace wasn't silent, was far from it. Those screams that had filtered through the forest filled the walls, and he stalked past battles, skirmishes. and killings as easily as he had the rasping bodies of the dying. His choice was made. Endymion, Endymion, Endymion -

Lightning struck a place so near, the scent of ozone flooded his taste buds and filled his nostrils. Makoto screamed a battle cry, and a chorus of voices echoed it. 

His feet were pounding down another path, bursting through an open gateway, before he could think about it. 

And then she was there. Blood ran freely from a cut on the side of her head, from a tear in her jacket, from half a dozen small spaces that his eyes locked to in an instant. Her hair was half falling from its tie, one of those charming rose-shaped earrings missing from an ear spotted with blood. Teeth grit as she lunged to stab her blade at a body that fell away before she could land the blow, skittering to safety on hands and rump and feet. A half dozen others surrounded her.

The Silver Millennium did not have an army, and thus the people wore no uniform, and yet those who stood against her were unmistakably of the Moon. They spat and cursed in Lunar tongue as they held their blades, half with eyes on Makoto and half with eyes on the sky. The tiled ground was pitted and cracked with jagged lines and pulverized stones, the work of lightning strike after lightning strike. Bodies lay in the corners of the room, kicked back to make room. Some still twitched with the aftershock of a successful strike. 

His boots were tough things, meant for riding and marching and hounding after a prince who pretended he didn't know the meaning of the words self-preservation. His footsteps had not been silent, and his arrival and the fumbling escape of Makoto's target had earned a few, too-brief seconds of startled silence.

That shattered all too quickly. 

"Reinforcements have arrived!" one of the Lunarians shouted and lunged at Makoto. Kunzite froze in horror as he understood her meaning. "Kill the Terran witch!"

"Die, witch!"

"Kill the witch!"

They thought he was there for  _ them _ . Of course they did. Why wouldn't they?

A snarl curled his lips, and he slammed the flat of his blade against the outstretched hand of the nearest fighter. The crack of bone wasn't loud in the den of battle, but he still heard it. The shout of surprised pain was louder still. 

"Why -?" the man demanded, even as Kunzite kicked his knee out from under him with another grisly crack of bone and dove for a man aiming a sword at Makoto's unguarded back. She was fending off two at once, both hands occupied with her sword, and he slapped the enemy blade away with a shrill scrape of metal that raised the hairs on his back. With him behind her, there were four still on their feet; he with two to fight and she with two, the one he'd downed out of the fight and the one she'd downed still scrambling to get to his feet. 

They were bad odds but not impossible, they could handle this lot and move on, move on to Endymion, move on to  _ Serenity  _ who would be in the place Endymion was racing off too -

A sword entered his back and exited through his front, neatly speared between two ribs. His own sword fell from nerveless hands.

" _ Oh _ ," he gasped.

🌕🥀🌏

Makoto blinked blood from her eyes as she pulled her sword from the enemy who'd taken position at her back, breathing heavy. Her hands were shaking around the grip of her sword, exhaustion pulling her bones to the earth. She'd lost track of how long the fighting had lasted, and now it was all a blur of bloodshed and pain, of bodies falling and lightning crashing, and she couldn't stop to acknowledge any of it if she wanted to keep on her feet. 

There were so many of them still and now reinforcements -

Her stomach had sunk at the sound of the pounding footsteps and the blurred glimpse of Lunarians silks instead of Earthen armor in the gateway, fear a noose at her throat, but she couldn't falter, couldn't weaken. She had to keep them out. She had to buy time. 

She had to keep the Lunarians at bay so Ami could spirit Serenity away, take her wounded princess to safety.

There were five Lunarians left on their feet, one bleeding out at  _ her  _ feet and one clutching a twisted knee.

( She hadn't done that. She couldn't waste time on crippling blows when the Lunarians were still willing to get back up. 

So who had -? )

Two of those at her back sprang forward, and Makoto thrust one hand back and the other forwards, electricity leaping from her fingers to blast away the lot of those standing.

She sank to one knee after, shaking out her hands and wasting precious breath on curses. It was so much easier to open a path for the sky to strike. It took so much from her to turn the golden light bonding her to Serenity and form it into electricity. One hand touched the ground, the better to brace herself, and slid through a puddle of warm, viscous blood. 

Her enemies wheezed and gasped around her, their limbs shaking in the wake of the charge she had passed through them. It was foolish, reckless, but Makoto had killed before and never turned her face from the truth of it. 

She looked. 

The man she'd stabbed lay curled on his side, hands pressed to the exit wound in his chest. His pale hair fell across his face, wheezing breaths puffing loose strands from his blood-stained mouth. His silver eyes were fixed on her.

"Ma - ko - to -"

Her lungs stilled, the beat of her heart suddenly a roar in her ears. Makoto's eyes widened, lips parting. 

No. 

No, it wasn't possible. 

For an instant, the world fell away, shrunk to nothing more than the exhausted weight of her body and Kunzite's bleeding shell, staring back at her. 

His eyes were so warm.

"Kunzite," she said, and her voice was the crack of glass, the shattering of porcelain, the reckoning of something broken. " _ Kunzite - _ "

The sword that cut into her back shouldn't have been a surprise. The battle had not stopped. The world had not frozen because a part of hers was ending. 

But it was a surprise - the sword, the pain, the flesh that parted and the blood that poured down to quench the hungry earth. A scream tore from her lips, one more cry to echo in these once golden, once loved halls, and she fell forward as her bracing arm buckled. 

His face was inches from hers. His eyes, glazing with death and yet still so warm. 

Above them, the enemy laughed. 

Her hand slid forward. His fingers twitched against her own.

Above them, the sky churned. 

His eyes dulled, open, staring, empty. Her fingers gripped at his hand. Her glove prolonged the illusion of life, kept away the chill of blood loss, of spreading death. Blood poured from her back and the gash above her eye, and the puddle growing under her body spread into the pool underneath his. Her lungs struggled to inflate. Her heart pounded and pounded and pounded.

Above them, lightning split the sky and crashed to Earth where they stood. 

Again.

Again.

Again.

Again.

( Makoto's eyes closed.  _ Serenity _ ,  _ Kunzite _ , her heart cried - )

Again.

( -  _ forgive me. _ )


End file.
